Justice Sanjeev Khanna: On May 10 (2024), a bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Dutta in the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a case related to the excise policy to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections. Talking about Justice Khanna, he is the second most senior judge in the Supreme Court after Chief Justice (CJI) DY Chandrachud. In such a situation, after the retirement of CJI Chandrachud, he is the frontrunner to become the next Chief Justice. CJI Chandrachud’s term is ending in November 2024, after which Justice Khanna will serve as CJI from November 10, 2024 to May 13, 2025.
Justice Sanjeev Khanna became a Justice in the Supreme Court about five years ago in January 2019. He is a relative of Justice Hansraj Khanna, who resigned from the post of Supreme Court judge during the Emergency.
Justice Sanjeev Khanna was born on 14 May 1960 and obtained a law degree from Delhi University. In the year 1983, he started practicing in the District Court of Delhi and then practiced in the Delhi High Court and tribunals.
He has practiced in cases related to constitutional law, direct tax, arbitration and commercial matters, company law, land law, environmental and pollution law and medical negligence.
According to Justice Khanna’s details on the Supreme Court website, he has served as Additional Public Prosecutor in the Delhi High Court and argued as amicus curiae on behalf of the court in several criminal cases. He is considered to have great expertise in taxation matters and has worked as Senior Standing Counsel for the Income Tax Department in the Delhi High Court for seven years.
What decisions were given as a judge?
In April 2024, Justice Khanna dismissed the petition related to Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPT) and cross-verification of votes cast in Electronic Voting Machines (EVM). In his decision, he has written in detail about the sanctity of EVMs and trust in the Election Commission of the country. In March, a bench headed by Justice Khanna dismissed the petition related to the stay on the law related to the appointment of Election Commissioners. He had said that it is not right to impose a ban in view of the Lok Sabha elections to be held this year. However, the court also criticized the government for hastily appointing election commissioners.
A bench headed by Justice Khanna had refused to grant bail to BRS leader and Telangana MLC K Kavitha in the liquor policy case in March 2023. He had asked Kavitha to apply for bail in the trial court and not come directly to the Supreme Court.
Justice Khanna was also part of the bench which struck down the constitutional validity of the electoral bond scheme. Apart from this, he was also part of the bench which upheld the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir. In both these cases, Justice Khanna had agreed to the majority decision. In October 2023, a bench led by Justice Khanna refused to grant bail to former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia.
