Who is Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the future CJI who granted interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal?

Justice Sanjiv Khanna granted interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal on May 10

On May 10, a bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case to campaign in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Khanna, the senior among the two judges, is also the next in line to become  the Chief Justice of India (CJI) after the incumbent DY Chandrachud retires in November 2024. He will serve as the CJI from November 10, 2024, to May 13, 2025. Khanna is currently the seniormost judge in the apex court after the CJI.

Elevated to the Supreme Court in January 2019, Khanna is related to the legendary judge Hans Raj Khanna, who resigned from his apex court judgeship during the emergency. Khanna’s appointment as a judge of the apex court caused a controversy as he was appointed directly to the SC, despite there being 33 judges senior to him in age and experience. The controversy died down merely months after his appointment.

Prior to becoming a judge of the apex court, Khanna was a judge in the Delhi HC for 14 years from 2005. Known for his expertise in taxation and other commercial laws, Khanna has authored various important judgments over the last two decades.

Education and career

Khanna was born on May 14, 1960 and pursued a law degree in Delhi University. After enrolling as a lawyer with the Bar Council of Delhi in 1983, he began his practice in Delhi’s district court. He subsequently switched to Delhi High Court and tribunals. He practiced in the fields of constitutional law, direct taxes, arbitration and commercial matters, company law, land laws, environment and pollution laws and medical negligence. According to his profile in the Supreme Court website, “He (Khanna) had also argued a number of criminal cases in the Delhi High Court as an Additional Public Prosecutor, and on appointment by the Court as an amicus curia.”

However, Khanna is best remembered by his colleagues and juniors for being a very effective lawyer on the taxation side, as he had a long tenure of about seven years as the Senior Standing Counsel for the Income Tax Department in the Delhi High Court. Incidentally, Khanna was a lawyer of the National Capital Territory of Delhi for a brief while before being elevated to judgeship.

Career as a judge:

In April 2024, Khanna passed a judgment dismissing a plea for cross-verification of the votes cast in electronic voting machines (EVMs) with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). The judgment he authored spoke extensively about the sanctity of EVMs and trust in Election Commission of India (ECI).

In March, his bench had junked an application seeking a stay on law pertaining to the appointment of election commissioners. He opined that in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and the balance of convenience was not in favour of granting a stay of the elections. The court furthermore criticised the government for appointing the election commissioners in a hurry. "You could have gone slower," Justice Khanna said.

In fact, a bench led by Khanna had denied a bail to BRS leader and Telangana MLC K Kavitha in the liquor policy case in March 2023. They asked Kavitha to file for bail in the trial court and not approach the apex court directly.

Khanna was a part of the bench that struck down the constitutional validity of the electoral bonds scheme. He had infact authored a concurring opinion to the majority view. The senior Supreme Court judge was also a part of the bench that upheld the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution which gave a special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Khanna had authored a concurring view to the majority judgment.

In October 2023, a bench led by Khanna refused to grant bail to former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia.