Familial histories, professional graphs lie entwined in service of the Supreme Court

The decade is set to see two Chief Justices of India whose fathers once headed the apex court

The decade is set to see two Chief Justices of India (CJI) whose fathers once headed the Supreme Court.

CJI-designate, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, is the son of former CJI, Y.V. Chandrachud. Justice B.V. Nagarathna is the daughter of former CJI, E.S. Venkataramiah. Justice Nagarathna is in line to be the first woman CJI in 2027 for a month-long tenure.

Justice Venkataramiah, according to George H. Gadbois Jr’s ‘Judges of the Supreme Court of India 1950-1989’, was initially to serve as CJI for only 23 days but his immediate predecessor, Justice R.S. Pathak, was elected to the International Court of Justice and resigned on June 18, 1989, thus extending Justice Venkataramiah’s tenure as the 19th CJI to six months from June 19,1989 till his retirement in December 1989.

Justice D.Y. Chandrachud’s father was the 16th CJI and the longest-serving one for over seven years, from February 22, 1978, to July 11, 1985. Justice Chandrachud, who will retire as the 50th CJI on November 10, 2024, would be succeeded to the top post by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, a nephew of Justice H.R. Khanna, whose lone dissent, which upheld personal liberty and rule of law in the Emergency-era ADM Jabalpur case, is reported to have cost him his Chief Justiceship in 1977. Justice Khanna was the Law Minister for three days in the Chaudhary Charan Singh government in July 1979 when the elder Justice Chandrachud was CJI.

Justice Nagarathna’s father, Justice Venkataramiah, was sworn in as Supreme Court judge on March 8, 1979 when Justice Y.V. Chandrachud was the CJI.

But they are not the only Supreme Court judges whose familial histories and professional graphs lie entwined in service of the court.

A nephew of the first Chief Justice of India, Sir H.J. Kania, served as Chief Justice of India almost 40 years later. Justice M.H. Kania was the 23rd CJI from December 1991 to November 1992.