Department of Justice is a part of Ministry of Law & Justice as per the Allocation of Business Rules of Government of India. It is one of the oldest Departments of Govt. of India and was under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Union Home Secretary has been the Secretary of Department of Justice till 31st December 2009. Keeping in view the increasing workload and formulating many policies and programmes for Judicial Reforms in the country, Secretary (Justice) was appointed on 1st January, 2010 in the Ministry of Law & Justice.
The secretariat of the Department is located in Jaisalmer House, New Delhi. The Organisational setup includes four Joint Secretaries, six Directors/Deputy Secretaries and seven Under Secretaries. The functions of the Department of Justice include the appointment, resignation and removal of the Chief Justice of India, Judges of the Supreme Court of India, Chief Justices and Judges of the High Courts and their service matters. In addition, The Department implements important schemes for Infrastructure Development of Subordinate Judiciary, the E-court Project on computerization of various courts across the country, Legal Aid to Poor and Access to Justice. The working of Department of Justice as per Allocation of Business Rule 1961 is given in Allocation Of Business Rules 1961.
Chief Justice of India List -(1950 – 2020)
| Chief Justice of India Name | Date Of Appointment as Chief Justice of India | Held Office Till |
|---|---|---|
| Honorable Mr. Justice Harilal Jekisundas Kania | 26 January 1950 | 06 November 1951 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice M. Patanjali Sastri | 07 November 1951 | 03 January 1954 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice Mehr Chand Mahajan | 04 January 1954 | 22 December 1954 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice Bijan Kumar Mukherjea | 23 December 1954 | 31 January 1956 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice Sudhi Ranjan Das | 01 February 1956 | 30 September 1959 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice Bhuvneshwar Prasad Sinha | 01 October 1959 | 31 January 1964 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice P.B. Gajendragadkar | 01 February 1964 | 15 March 1966 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice A.K. Sarkar | 16 March 1966 | 29 June 1966 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice K. Subba Rao | 30 June 1966 | 11 April 1967 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice K.N. Wanchoo | 12 April 1967 | 24 February 1968 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice M. Hidayatullah | 25 February 1968 | 16 December 1970 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice J.C. Shah | 17 December 1970 | 21 January 1971 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice S.M. Sikri | 22 January 1971 | 25 April 1973 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice A.N. Ray | 26 April 1973 | 28 January 1977 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice M. Hameedullah Beg | 29 January 1977 | 21 February 1978 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice Y.V. Chandrachud | 22 February 1978 | 11 July 1985 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice P.N. Bhagwati | 12 July 1985 | 20 December 1986 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice R.S. Pathak | 21 December 1986 | 18 June 1989 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice E.S. Venkataramiah | 19 June 1989 | 17 December 1989 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice Sabyasachi Mukherjee | 18 December 1989 | 25 September 1990 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice Ranganath Misra | 25 September 1990 | 24 November 1991 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice K.N. Singh | 25 November 1991 | 12 December 1991 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice M.H. Kania | 13 December 1991 | 17 November 1992 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice L.M. Sharma | 18 November 1992 | 11 February 1993 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah | 12 February 1993 | 24 October 1994 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice A.M. Ahmadi | 25 October 1994 | 24 March 1997 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice J.S. Verma | 25 March 1997 | 17 January 1998 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice M.M. Punchhi | 18 January 1998 | 09 October 1998 |
| Honorable Dr. Justice A.S. Anand | 10 October 1998 | 31 October 2001 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice S.P. Bharucha | 01 November 2001 | 05 May 2002 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice B.N. Kirpal | 06 May 2002 | 07 November 2002 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice G.B. Pattanaik | 08 November 2002 | 18 December 2002 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice V.N. Khare | 19 December 2002 | 01 May 2004 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice S. Rajendra Babu | 02 May 2004 | 31 May 2004 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice R.C. Lahoti | 01 June 2004 | 31 October 2005 |
| Honorable Mr. Justice Y.K. Sabharwal | 01 November 2005 | 13 January 2007 |
| Hon’ble Mr. Justice K.G. Balakrishnan | 14 January 2007 | 11 May 2010 |
| Hon’ble Mr. Justice S.H. Kapadia | 12 May 2010 | 28 September 2012 |
| Hon’ble Mr. Justice Altamas Kabir | 29 September 2012 | 18 July 2013 |
| Hon’ble Mr. Justice P. Sathasivam | 19 July 2013 | 26 April 2014 |
| Hon’ble Mr. Justice R. M. Lodha | 27 April 2014 | 27 September 2014 |
| Hon’ble Mr. Justice H.L. Dattu | 28 September 2014 | 02 December 2015 |
| Hon’ble Mr. T. S. Thakur | 03 December 2015 | 03 January 2017 |
| Hon’ble Mr. Jagdish Singh Khehar | 04 January 2017 | 27 August 2017 |
| Hon’ble Mr. Justice Dipak Misra | 28 August 2017 | 02 October 2018 |
| Hon’ble Mr. Ranjan Gogoi (incumbent) | 3 October 2018 | 17 November 2019 |
| Hon’ble Mr. Sharad Arvind Bobde | 18 November 2019 | 23 April 2021 |
| Hon’ble Mr. Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana | 24 April 2021 | Incumbent |
Chief Justice of India is the head of the judiciary system in India. The Honourable President of India appointed the Chief Justice of India/Supreme Court of India. There have been 47 Chief justices in India till date. The present Chief Justice of India is Mr. Sharad Arvind Bobde and is the 47th CJI since it was established on 26 January 1950. He took the office of Chief Justice of India and succeeded Justice Ranjan Gogoi on 18 November 2019.
Sharad Arvind Bobde is a former Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court and is also serving as the Chancellor of the University of Delhi and Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur.
Chief justice in India is appointed by the president of India. He consults judges of the High Court and Supreme Court and makes a decision based on the information given. The Chief Justice of India can hold the office up to the age of 65 years.
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