Present Chief Justice of India Justice JS Khehar has recommended the name of Justice Dipak Misra as 45th Chief Justice of India.
Justice Khehar is retiring on August 27, 2017. Justice Dipak Misra was Elevated as a Judge, Supreme Court of India in 2011.
Article 124 of the Constitution of India provides for the manner of appointing judges to the Supreme Court. Though no specific provision exists in the Constitution for appointing the Chief Justice, who, as a result, is appointed like the other judges conventionally, the outgoing CJI recommends the name of the senior-most judge (i.e. by date of appointment to the Supreme Court) for appointment by the President of India, as his successor.
However, this convention has been breached on a few occasions, when during the tenure of prime minister Indira Gandhi, she got Justice A.N. Ray appointed as CJI, superseding three judges senior to him.
List of Chief Justices of India:
1 H. J. Kania
2 M. Patanjali Sastri
3 Mehr Chand Mahajan
4 Bijan Kumar Mukherjea
5 Sudhi Ranjan Das
6 Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha
7 Prahlad Balacharya Gajendragadkar
8 Amal Kumar Sarkar
9 Koka Subba Rao
10 Kailas Nath Wanchoo
11 Mohammad Hidayatullah
12 Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah
13 Sarv Mittra Sikri
14 Ajit Nath Ray
15 Mirza Hameedullah Beg
16 Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud
17 Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati
18 Raghunandan Swarup Pathak
19 Engalaguppe Seetharamiah Venkataramiah
20 Sabyasachi Mukharji
21 Ranganath Misra
22 Kamal Narain Singh
23 Madhukar Hiralal Kania
24 Lalit Mohan Sharma
25 Manepalli Narayana Rao Venkatachaliah
26 Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi
27 Jagdish Sharan Verma
28 Madan Mohan Punchhi
29 Adarsh Sein Anand
30 Sam Piroj Bharucha
31 Bhupinder Nath Kirpal
32 Gopal Ballav Pattanaik
33 V. N. Khare
34 S. Rajendra Babu
35 Ramesh Chandra Lahoti
36 Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal
37 K. G. Balakrishnan
38 S. H. Kapadia
39 Altamas Kabir
40 P. Sathasivam
41 Rajendra Mal Lodha
42 H. L. Dattu
43 T. S. Thakur
44 J. S. Khehar