CJI BR Gavai: You will become the Chief Justice one day… once upon a time your father had dreamt of it, today BR Gavai has fulfilled it

Son, you will become the Chief Justice one day… These were the exact words of a father for his son. Years ago, that father had a dream. Dream… of making his son the Chief Justice. Today that dream has come true. The father did not see that dream come true with his own eyes, but the son did not let his dream die. By working hard, the son fulfilled his father’s dream and today he became the Chief Justice. Yes, this is the story of India’s 52nd Chief Justice BR Gavai i.e. Bhushan Ramakrishna Gavai.

In fact, Justice BR Gavai today fulfilled his late father’s dream and became the 52nd Chief Justice of the country. CJI BR Gavai’s father Ramakrishna Suryabhan Gavai was a well-known Ambedkarite leader and founder of the Republican Party of India. He has also been the former Governor of Bihar, Kerala and Sikkim. RS Gavai himself also wanted to become a lawyer once. But due to involvement in social service, he could not pursue it after the second year of law school. However, now his son BR Gavai has fulfilled his dream by becoming the CJI.

Father’s dream fulfilled by son

CJI BR Gavai once recalled that ‘he (father) had told me that you fulfill my dream.’ BR Gavai’s father had told him, ‘Son, you will contribute more to the society than me. You will become the Chief Justice one day. But I will not be there to see it.’ Today that thing of BR Gavai’s father has come true. BR Gavai became the Chief Justice of the country. But his father is no longer in this world to see this. RS Gavai died in the year 2015, four years before Justice Gavai’s promotion to the Supreme Court.

Justice BR Gavai was sworn in by President Draupadi Murmu on Wednesday. The tenure of CJI Sanjeev Khanna ended on May 13. His tenure is only seven months. BR Gavai is the second Dalit Chief Justice of the country. Before him, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan held this post. Justice Balakrishnan became the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in the year 2007. Recently, in an informal conversation, Gavai had said that he is going to become the first Buddhist Chief Justice of the country.

Who is BR Gavai

According to the Supreme Court website, CJI BR Gavai i.e. Bhushan Ramakrishna Gavai was born on 24 November 1960 in Amravati, Maharashtra. He entered the world of advocacy on 16 March 1985 and initially worked with late Raja S. Bhonsale (former Advocate General and former High Court judge). From 1987 to 1990, he practiced independently in the Bombay High Court. After this, he mainly advocated various cases before the Nagpur Bench. Constitutional and administrative law have been his major areas. He has been the permanent counsel of Nagpur Municipal Corporation, Amravati Municipal Corporation and Amravati University. He became an additional judge of the Bombay High Court on 14 November 2003 and was promoted as a permanent judge on 12 November 2005. He presided over a variety of cases in the principal bench in Mumbai as well as in Nagpur, Aurangabad and Panaji. He was promoted to the Supreme Court on 24 May 2019.