Chief Justice of India

CJI Full Form in English, letter by letter

CJI is the Chief Justice of India, the head of the Indian judiciary and the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court.

CJI Full Form in Indian Languages

Court reports, quiz papers and election-season news all carry CJI, the Chief Justice of India, who heads the Supreme Court and decides which bench hears which case. The title is given below in six Indian languages.

The constitutional post behind CJI

Article 124 of the Constitution says the Supreme Court consists of the Chief Justice of India and not more than 33 other judges, so the full strength is 34. The number began at eight and Parliament has raised it several times, most recently in 2019.

The office dates to 1950, when Justice H. J. Kania was the first Chief Justice of India. Justice Y. V. Chandrachud, who held the post from 1978 to 1985, is the longest-serving holder, with a little over seven years in office.

The qualifications are those for any Supreme Court judge. The person must be a citizen of India and either a High Court judge for at least five years, a High Court advocate for at least ten years, or a distinguished jurist in the opinion of the President.

A CJI can be removed only the way any Supreme Court judge can: by an address of both Houses of Parliament, passed by special majority, on proven misbehaviour or incapacity (Article 124(4)).

Appointment, seniority and retirement

The President appoints the Chief Justice of India. By long convention, and under the Memorandum of Procedure, the senior-most Supreme Court judge succeeds, and the outgoing CJI writes to the government recommending that successor. Departures from seniority have been rare and controversial.

The collegium works differently. For appointing other Supreme Court judges, the CJI and the four senior-most judges decide the names. The Supreme Court struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission in 2015, which kept the collegium in place.

The CJI retires at 65, as Article 124(2) provides. Because succession follows seniority, a CJI who takes office late may serve for only a few months, which is why tenures vary so widely. When the post is vacant or the CJI is absent, the President appoints another judge as acting Chief Justice under Article 126.

What the CJI does, and why the roster matters

The CJI is called master of the roster. The CJI decides which judges sit on which bench and which kinds of cases each bench takes up. Since the choice of bench can shape how a case is argued, the Supreme Court itself has examined this power in its own judgments.

Constitution benches of at least five judges hear cases that raise a substantial question of constitutional law (Article 145(3)). It is the CJI who constitutes them and lists the matters.

The CJI administers the oath of office to the President of India (Article 60). The office also sits on committees that select other officials, such as the Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (through the CJI or a nominee) and members of the Lokpal. The CJI also leads the Supreme Court's administration, from registry staff to court infrastructure.

CJI versus other judicial titles

A Chief Justice of a High Court holds a different office. India has 25 High Courts, each with its own chief justice, and none of them is the CJI. A news line about the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court is not about the CJI.

The collegium is a body, not a post. It is led by the CJI and made up of the four next senior-most judges, and it recommends judges for the Supreme Court and High Courts.

People also use CJI loosely for the whole court, but a Supreme Court judgment is the work of a bench. A phrase such as the CJI-led bench means the Chief Justice sat on that bench personally.

The full form in exams and news

General awareness papers ask the full form often, and the usual follow-ups are the retirement age of 65, the article that creates the Supreme Court, the maximum number of judges, and the collegium. Learn those facts together with the expansion.

Reading news becomes easier once the post is clear. Roster changes, Constitution bench references and judicial appointment stories all trace back to the powers of this one office.

When a headline says the CJI referred a matter to a Constitution bench, the Chief Justice of India has used the roster power that the Constitution and the court's rules place in that office.

CJI Full Form: Common Questions