CJI Sanjiv Khanna retires, declines post-retirement government role

New Delhi, May 13: On his final day in office, Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna confirmed that he would not accept any government-appointed role after retirement. Responding to a question during a farewell interaction reported by Bar & Bench, he stated, “I will not accept any post-retirement post… but perhaps will do something with law.”

Justice Khanna, who served as the 51st Chief Justice of India from November 2024 to May 2025, also addressed the handling of recent allegations of corruption against Justice Yashwant Varma. “Judicial thinking has to be decisive and adjudicatory,” he said. “We see plus and minus and decide the issue then rationally. When we do that, we take decisions. Then the future tells you whether what you did was correct or not.”

Justice Khanna brings to a close a judicial career spanning over three decades, shaped by a distinguished family legacy in law. Born on May 14, 1960, he is the son of Dev Raj Khanna, a former judge of the Delhi High Court, and Saroj Khanna, a lecturer at Lady Shri Ram College. He is also the nephew of Justice H.R. Khanna of the Supreme Court, renowned for his principled dissent in the ADM Jabalpur habeas corpus case during the Emergency, and for laying down the basic structure doctrine in the Kesavananda Bharati case (1973).

His grandfather, Sarav Dayal, a leading advocate, was a member of the Indian National Congress Committee that investigated the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre, further cementing the family’s longstanding involvement in public life and justice.

Justice Khanna began his judicial career as an additional judge of the Delhi High Court in June 2005, and was elevated to the permanent bench in February 2006. Before his elevation to the bench, he served as Senior Standing Counsel for the Income Tax Department. He was appointed to the Supreme Court in January 2019. While his tenure as Chief Justice was brief, it was marked by a commitment to clarity and judicial integrity. Though stepping away from official roles, Justice Khanna hinted that his engagement with the law is far from over — just not within the formal machinery of state.