Dinesh Maheshwari, Sanjiv Khanna sworn in as Supreme Court judges

New Delhi: Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna were sworn in as Supreme Court judges by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Friday. Maheshwari was sworn in first, followed by Khanna.

Maheshwari and Khanna were selected by the collegium after Justice Arun Mishra replaced Justice Madan B Lokur, who demitted office in December. The earlier collegium had recommended the names of Rajasthan High Court Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Delhi High Court CJ Rajendra Menon.

The controversy blew over after the government immediately confirmed the collegium’s recommendations.


Gogoi administered the oath of office to Maheshwari and Khanna when the court convened in the morning.

After the customary tea break, Maheshwari sat in Court 1 with Gogoi and Sanjay Kishan Kaul, while Khanna sat in Court 2 with Sharad Arvind Bobde, who is in line to succeed Gogoi when he demits office in November.

As per convention, the seniority of a judge depends on the order in which they are sworn in. Maheshwari will accordingly be senior to Khanna in the top court hierarchy. However, Khanna will become CJI for only about six months succeeding Justice DY Chandrachud. With his tenure set to end on May 13, 2025, Khanna will likely assume the office of CJI after Chandrachud’s term ends on November 10, 2024.

Both Chandrachud and Khanna come from distinguished judicial families. Chandrachud’s father YV Chandrachud was the longest-serving chief justice of India. Khanna is the nephew of legendary Justice HR Khanna.