Hailing from a small village in Haryana, Justice Surya Kant will become the Chief Justice of India next month. He will be the country’s first Haryana CJI from a humble background. His journey is an inspiration for young people.
Justice Surya Kant is set to become the Chief Justice of India (CJI) next month. He will be India’s first Haryana Chief Justice and assume office as the 53rd Chief Justice on November 24 and will hold the post until February 9, 2027.
It’s an extraordinary journey that began in Petwar, a small village in Haryana. He spent his childhood living a simple rural life and first saw the city when he went to Hansi, Haryana, to take his 10th-grade board exams. His father was a teacher.
Those who have worked closely with him describe Justice Surya Kant as a jurist with deep knowledge and balanced judgment. His judgments are praised for their balance and unwavering commitment to justice. Serving for over 14 years in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, before becoming Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court and then a Supreme Court judge, he has always displayed deep sensitivity to matters such as the protection of public resources, land acquisition and compensation, victims’ rights, reservation policies, and the broad balance of constitutional principles.
He was born on February 10, 1962. Justice Surya Kant completed his early education from Petwar and earned his LLB from MDU in 1984. He began his career as a lawyer in the Hisar District Court, then moved to Chandigarh to practice in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. At the age of 38, Justice Surya Kant became Haryana’s youngest Advocate General. In 2004, at the age of 42, he was appointed a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Even then, he continued his academic pursuits and in 2011 earned a Master of Laws degree with first class honors from the Directorate of Distance Education, Kurukshetra University.
His important decisions
After serving as a High Court judge for over 14 years, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court on October 5, 2018. He became a Supreme Court judge on May 24, 2019. During his 14-year tenure as a High Court judge in Chandigarh, Justice Surya Kant delivered several landmark judgments.
These include the right for jailed prisoners to visit their spouses or undergo artificial insemination for procreation. He also issued an order in a case where a husband had murdered his wife. While sentencing the convict, he noted that the accused had four daughters. He personally spoke with the principal of a college and requested free education for the eldest daughter.
In the Punjab and Haryana High Court, he was part of the full bench that ordered the sanitization of the Dera Sacha Sauda following violence after the conviction of its head in rape cases in 2017. He also ordered a central investigation into financial irregularities within the Dera.
He served as a member of the governing body of the National Legal Services Authority from 2007 to 2011. In the Supreme Court, he was part of benches that delivered several landmark judgments. As Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, he focused on administrative reforms and improving judicial efficiency. He emphasized that access to basic amenities is an integral part of the fundamental right to life enshrined in the Constitution.
