Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai (born 24 November 1960), better known as B. R. Gavai, is an Indian

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

who is currently serving as the 52nd

Chief Justice of India The chief justice of India (CJI) is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India and the highest-ranking officer of the Indian judiciary. The Constitution of India grants power to the President of India to appoint, as recommended by the outg ...

since 14 May 2025. He is a former judge of the

Bombay High Court The High Court of Bombay is the High courts of India, high court of the States and union territories of India, states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily ...

and he also currently serves as the chancellor of some National Law Universities (NLUs). He is also the ''ex officio'' patron-in-chief of

National Legal Services Authority The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) is a statutory body of India established on 9 November 1995 under the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987. Overview NALSA's purpose is to provide free legal services to eligible candidates (defined ...

Early life and education

Gavai was born on 24 November 1960 in

Amravati Amravati (/Marathi phonology, əmᵊɾɑʋᵊt̪iː/) is a city in Maharashtra located in the Vidarbha region. It is the ninth largest city in Maharashtra, India & second largest city in the Vidarbha region in terms of population. It is the ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

, and studied at a primary municipal school in Amravati. He then studied at Chikitsa Samuh Madhyamik Shala and at Holy Name High School in Mumbai. After earning degrees in commerce and in law from Amravati University, he joined the legal profession in 1985.

Career

Gavai worked with Bar. Raja S. Bhonsale, former advocate general and judge of the High Court. He practiced independently at Bombay High Court from 1987 to 1990. After 1990, he practiced mainly before the Nagpur Bench of the

. He also practiced

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

and

administrative law Administrative law is a division of law governing the activities of government agency, executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law includes executive branch rulemaking (executive branch rules are generally referred to as "regul ...

. Gavai was standing counsel for the municipal corporation of

Nagpur Nagpur (; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Nāgapura'') is the second capital and third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is called the heart of India because of its central geographical location. It is the largest and most populated city i ...

Amravati Municipal Corporation Amravati Municipal Corporation is the governing body of the city of Amravati in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The municipal corporation consists of democratically elected members, is headed by a mayor and administers the city's infrastructur ...

, and

Amravati University Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University (SGBAU), formerly Amravati University, named after Sant Gadge Baba, is a public state university located at Amravati in the Vidarbha region of the state of Maharashtra, India. Today, it is one of the larges ...

. Appeared regularly for various autonomous bodies and corporations like SICOM, DCVL, etc., and various municipal councils in the

Vidarbha region Vidarbha (Pronunciation: �id̪əɾbʱə is a geographical region in the west Indian state of Maharashtra. Forming the eastern part of the state, it comprises Amravati and Nagpur divisions. As per the 2011 Census, the region had a population ...

. He was appointed as assistant government pleader and additional public prosecutor in the High Court of Judicature at Bombay, Nagpur Bench, from August 1992 to July 1993. Later, he was appointed as government pleader and public prosecutor for the Nagpur Bench on 17 January 2000. He was elevated as an additional judge of the High Court on 14 November 2003. On 12 November 2005, he became a permanent judge of the

. After serving as a High Court judge for 14 years, he was appointed as a judge of the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

on 24 May 2019, a position he held until 13 May 2025. On 14 May 2025, Justice Bhushan Ramakrishna Gavai was sworn in as the 52nd Chief Justice of India by President

Droupadi Murmu Droupadi Murmu (born Durgi Biranchi Tudu; 20 June 1958) is an Indian politician who has been serving as the president of India since 2022. She won the 2022 Indian presidential election, 2022 presidential election as the Bharatiya Janata Party ...

. His term will be till 23 November 2025 i.e. for six months. He is the first

from the Buddhist community. He is also the second

Dalit Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...

( SC) to hold the office, following Justice K. G. Balakrishnan, a member of the Scheduled Castes, who previously served as Chief Justice. As of January 2025, the Supreme Court of India had three sitting judges from the Scheduled Castes – Justice B. R. Gavai, Justice C. T. Ravikumar (since retired), and Justice Prasanna Varale. This marks the highest representation of the Scheduled Caste community in the history of the Supreme Court. Notably, both Justice B. R. Gavai and Justice Prasanna B. Varale belong to the Buddhist faith, making it the first time in the Court's history that two

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

judges are serving simultaneously. He is due to retire on 23 November 2025.

Personal life

Bhushan Ramakrishan Gavai was born to

R.S. Gavai Ramkrishna Suryabhan Gavai (30 October 1929 – 25 July 2015), popularly known as Dadasaheb Gavai, was an Indian politician, social activist, senior leader of the Ambedkarite movement, and founder of the Republican Party of India (Gavai). He w ...

and Kamala on 24 November 1960. His father led the

Republican Party of India (Gavai) The Republican Party of India (Gavai) is a political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about ...

faction and had been an M.P. and

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

. His brother Rajendra Gavai is also a politician. His family is inspired by

B. R. Ambedkar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Bhīmrāo Rāmjī Āmbēḍkar; 14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who chaired the committee that drafted the Constitution of India based on t ...

and follows

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

References

External links

JUSTICE Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai Official Profile from Bombay High court website

JUSTICE Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai Official Profile from Supreme court website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gavai, B. R. 1960 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Buddhists 20th-century Indian judges 21st-century Indian judges Dalit people Judges of the Bombay High Court Navayana Buddhists Justices of the Supreme Court of India 20th-century Indian Buddhists 21st-century Indian Buddhists People from Amravati Chief justices of India