List of Chief Justices[edit]

Length
Number

Name

Period of office

of term

Bar

(days)

H. J. Kania

26 January
1950

7
2

M. Patanjali Sastri

November
1951

Mehr Chand

4 January

Mahajan

1954

6
November

649

1951

3 January
1954

788

22
December

352

1954

Appointed
by

Bombay
High Court

Madras High
Court

East Punjab
High Court
Rajendra
Prasad

Bijan Kumar
Mukherjea

Sudhi Ranjan Das

23
December
1954

1 February
1956

31 January

1956

404

30
September

1337

1959

Bhuvaneshwar

1 October

31 January

Prasad Sinha

1959

1964

P. B.

1 February

15 March

Gajendragadkar

1964

1966

1583

773

Calcutta
High Court

Calcutta
High Court

Patna High
Court

Bombay

Sarvepalli

High Court

Radhakrishnan

Length
Number

Name

Period of office

of term

Bar

(days)

10

11

12

Amal Kumar

16 March

29 June

Sarkar

1966

1966

30 June

11 April

Koka Subba Rao

1966

1967

Kailas Nath

12 April

24 February

Wanchoo

1967

1968

25

16

February

December

1968

1970

Mohammad
Hidayatullah[2]

Jayantilal
Chhotalal Shah

13

Sarv Mittra Sikri

14

Ajit Nath Ray

15

17
December
1970

21 January
1971

22 Jan

25 April

1971

1973

26 April

27 January

1973

1977

Mirza Hameedullah 28 January 21 February

Beg

1977

1978

105

285

318

1025

35

824

1372

389

Appointed
by

Calcutta
High Court

Madras High
Court

Allahabad
High Court

Bombay
High Court

Zakir Hussain

Bombay
High Court

Lahore High
Court

Varahagiri
Venkata Giri

Calcutta
High Court

Allahabad

Fakhruddin Ali

High Court

Ahmed

Length
Number

Name

Period of office

of term

Bar

(days)

16

17

Yeshwant Vishnu
Chandrachud

22
February
1978

Prafullachandra

12 July

Natwarlal Bhagwati

1985

11 July
1985

2696

20
December

526

1986

Appointed
by

Bombay

Neelam Sanjiva

High Court

Reddy

Gujarat High
Court
Giani Zail Singh

18

Raghunandan
Swarup Pathak

Engalaguppe
19

Seetharamiah
Venkataramiah

20

Sabyasachi
Mukharji

21
December
1986

19 June
1989

18 June

1989

940

17
December

181

1989

18

25

December

September

1989

1990

281

Allahabad
High Court

Karnataka
High Court

Calcutta
High Court
Ramaswamy
Venkataraman

21

22

Ranganath Misra

Kamal Narain
Singh

26

24

September

November

1990

1991

25

12

November

December

1991

1991

424

17

Orissa High
Court

Allahabad
High Court

Length
Number

Name

Period of office

of term

Bar

(days)

23

24

25

Madhukar Hiralal
Kania

Lalit Mohan
Sharma

13

17

December

November

1991

1992

18
November
1992

Manepalli

12

Narayana Rao

February

Venkatachaliah

1993

11 February
1993

24 October
1994

340

85

619

Appointed
by

Bombay
High Court

Patna High
Court

Karnataka
High Court
Shankar Dayal
Sharma

26

27

28

Aziz Mushabber

25 October

24 March

Ahmadi

1994

1997

Jagdish Sharan

25 March

17 January

Verma

1997

1998

Madan Mohan

18 January

9 October

Punchhi

1998

1998

881

Gujarat High
Court

Madhya
298

Pradesh
High Court

Punjab and
264

Haryana
High Court
Kocheril Raman
Narayanan

29

Adarsh Sein Anand

10 October 11 January
1998

2001

Jammu and
824

Kashmir
High Court

Length
Number

Name

Period of office

of term

Bar

(days)

30

31

32

33

34

Sam Piroj

11 January

Bharucha

2001

Bhupinder Nath
Kirpal

Gopal Ballav
Pattanaik

V. N. Khare

6 May 2002

480

8
6 May 2002 November

186

2002

19

November

December

2002

2002

19 Dec
2002

S. Rajendra Babu 2 May 2004

2 May 2004

1 June
2004

41

500

30

Appointed
by

Bombay
High Court

Delhi High
Court

Orissa High
Court

Allahabad
High Court

Karnataka
High Court
A. P. J. Abdul
Kalam

35

36

37

Ramesh Chandra

1 June

Lahoti

2004

Yogesh Kumar
Sabharwal

K. G. Balakrishnan

1
November
2005

13 January

1
November

Madhya
518

2005

13 January
2007

11 May

Pradesh
High Court

438

1214

Delhi High
Court

Kerala High

Length
Number

Name

Period of office

of term

Bar

(days)

38

S. H. Kapadia

2007

2010

12 May

28 Sep

2010

2012

29
39

Altamas Kabir

September
2012

40

P. Sathasivam

18 July
2013

19 July

26 April

2013

2014

Appointed
by

Court

870

292

281

Bombay
High Court

Pratibha Patil

Calcutta
High Court

Madras High
Court
Pranab

41

Rajendra Mal

27 April

Lodha

2014

September
2014

28
42

H. L. Dattu

September
2014

Notes[edit]

- Date of Death
- Date of Resignation

Mukherjee

27

Incumbent

153

Rajasthan
High Court

Karnataka
High Court