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Justice Sanjiv Khanna - From an Advocate to a Supreme Court Judge

“Freedom to express and speak is the most important condition for political democracy. Law and policies are not democratic unless they have been made and subjected to democratic process including questioning and criticism.”

— Justice Sanjiv Khanna.(Amish Devgan v. Union of India)

According to seniority, Justice Sanjiv Khanna is set to become the 51st Chief Justice of India in November 2024, after the tenure of Hon’ble CJI D.Y. Chandrachud. He will serve for seven months.

Early Life & Education.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna was born on May 14, 1960. His father, Justice Dev Raj Khanna, was a former judge of the Delhi High Court. Sanjiv went to a well-known school in Delhi called Modern School, Barakhamba Road. He graduated from the University of Delhi in 1980 and then studied law at the Campus Law Centre at the same university.

Charting a Path from Advocate to Supreme Court Judge.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna became a lawyer in 1983 when he joined the Bar Council of Delhi. He started working in the District Courts at Tis Hazari in Delhi and then moved to the Delhi High Court. He worked on many different types of cases, including public law, tax appeals, business disputes, and environmental laws.

Justice Khanna handled medical negligence and company law cases. He also worked as an extra public prosecutor for the Delhi government in criminal cases. For almost seven years, he was the Income Tax Department's senior lawyer.

In 2004, he became the Government of Delhi's standing counsel at the Delhi High Court. On June 24, 2005, he got promoted to Additional Judge of the Delhi High Court and became a Permanent Judge on February 20, 2006.

A five-member Supreme Court Collegium, led by Chief Justice of India, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, suggested that Justice Maheshwari and Justice Khanna get promoted to the Supreme Court.

This decision came after a meeting on December 12, 2018, where they also considered Delhi High Court Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Rajasthan High Court Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog for promotion.

Notable Judgments by Justice Sanjiv Khanna: Shaping India's Legal Landscape.

Electoral Bonds Scheme:

In 2024, a five-judge panel ruled that the Electoral Bond Scheme was unconstitutional. Justice Khanna agreed with this decision and wrote that the privacy of donors is not an issue when donations are made through banks. He explained that the bank knows the donor’s identity when they buy the bond. Justice Khanna also said that while it’s wrong to punish or harm donors, this does not justify a scheme that takes away voters' right to know who is donating.

Article 370 of the Indian Constitution:

In 2023, Justice Khanna wrote an agreement in a five-judge panel decision that supported the removal of Article 370. He explained that Article 370 was a part of asymmetric federalism, not a sign of sovereignty, and that removing it does not harm India's federal structure.

Further added that “Article 370 was enacted as a transitional provision and did not have permanent character. The abrogation of Article 370 does not negate the federal structure, as the citizens living in Jammu and Kashmir do and will enjoy same status and rights as given to citizens residing in other parts of the country”

Validity of an Unstamped Arbitration Agreement:

A seven-judge panel, including Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Surya Kant, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, decided that an agreement without a stamp is not acceptable under the Indian Stamp Act of 1899, but it is not completely invalid from the start. This means that arbitration clauses in agreements that are unstamped or not properly stamped can still be enforced. Justice Khanna wrote in agreement with this judgment.

The Chief Justice of India and the RTI:

The five judges on the Constitution Bench, led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and his crew, including Justices NV Ramana, Dr. DY Chandrachud, Deepak Gupta, and Sanjiv Khanna, all agreed with the Delhi High Court's big decision from way back in 2010. That decision said that even the Chief Justice of India's office has to follow the Right to Information Act. So, they basically said that the Chief Justice of India's office is like any other government office when it comes to giving out information to the public.

Voter Verifiable Paper Audit:

The two judges, Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Dutta, who make up the Division Bench, came out with separate but similar decisions. They said no to the requests for a 100% cross-check of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with votes cast using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during elections. Here's what they said:

After the VVPATs are loaded with symbols on or after May 1, 2024, those loaded units have to be sealed in a box and put away in a safe room along with the EVMs for at least 45 days after the election results are out.
If candidates who came in second or third want to, a team of engineers will look at the burnt memory in the EVMs' microcontroller after the results are announced.
The candidates who ask for the verification have to pay for it. But if it's found that the EVMs were messed with, those costs will be given back.

Kejriwal Bail:

The final decision expected to affect the ED's arrest powers significantly. Kejriwal was challenging the legality of his arrest and detention through his plea to the Supreme Court. During the hearing, the bench led by Justice Khanna mentioned they would make a ruling on Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which relates to the ED's arrest authority. On October 30 of the previous year, Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti denied bail to former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the Excise policy case.

However, the bench allowed him to apply for bail in a lower court if his trial was delayed. The same bench granted bail to Benoy Babu, an executive of the liquor company Pernod Ricard, in December 2023. A few months later, on March 22, 2024, the day after Kejriwal's arrest, Justices Sanjiv Khanna, MM Sundresh, and Bela M Trivedi denied relief to BRS (Bharat Rashtra Samithi) legislator K Kavitha in the same case.

While refusing her request, Justice Khanna said, “All of us, in principle, agree that we should not, merely because there is a political person or somebody who can directly afford to come to the Supreme Court, bypass all the statutory and constitutional values.”

Justice Sanjeev Khanna’s Elevation: A Look at the Controversial Opinions

People are wondering why the Collegium took the names of two judges off the list they were considering and then changed their minds.

Some legal experts called the situation "selective" when Justice Khanna sat on the Bench with Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi. They pointed out that the Collegium had recommended Justice K.M. Joseph for the Supreme Court even though other judges were more senior. They asked why the same couldn't happen for Justice Khanna, who was ranked 33rd in the seniority list of high court judges.

A nine-judge Bench in the 1998 ‘Special Reference Case’ ruled that “merit is the predominant consideration” for Supreme Court appointments. The court stated that “strong cogent reasons” should be provided when appointing a judge who is junior to others.

The court emphasized that if someone has outstanding merit, they deserve to be appointed, even if they are not highly ranked in the seniority list.

However, the concerns raised by former Chief Justices R.M. Lodha and K.G. Balakrishnan goes beyond just supersession (the act of replacing something, especially something older or more old-fashioned).

So, the Collegium made a proposal on December 12, 2018, to recommend two High Court Chief Justices, Rajendra Menon and Pradeep Nandrajog, for Supreme Court appointments. But guess what? They changed their minds later and picked Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Khanna instead.

Some folks were like, "Hey, what gives? Why the sudden switch?" Well, apparently, there were a few reasons. Some said there were unauthorized media leaks and "additional materials" that came to light. Others mentioned the winter break and a change in the Collegium's makeup when Justice Madan B. Lokur retired.

The Chief Justice has the final say in these Supreme Court appointment recommendations, you know. And on January 10, 2019, the Collegium resolution explained that they made some decisions on December 12, 2019, but couldn't consult further due to the winter break. When the court reopened, Justice Arun Mishra joined the Collegium, and they had discussions on January 5-6, 2019. That's when they took a fresh look at the situation based on some new information they got.

Oh, and by the way, there's this Special Reference case from 1998 that says if a Collegium judge retires during the appointment process and they decide not to appoint a candidate, they should give their reasons to the new Collegium.

Did You Know? Lesser-Known Facts About Justice Sanjeev Khanna.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna is the nephew of former Supreme Court Justice Hans Raj Khanna. Justice Hans Raj Khanna was important in establishing the Basic Structure Doctrine in the case of Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973). He also famously delivered the only dissenting judgment in the ADM Jabalpur v. Shivakant Shukla (1976), known as the Habeas Corpus case.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna has never served as Chief Justice of any High Court. Before his appointment to the Supreme Court, he was a Judge of the Delhi High Court. Justice Khanna was directly promoted to the Supreme Court from the Delhi High Court, which is quite rare. Since 1997, only six judges have been directly elevated from their parent High Court. These judges are S Abdul Nazeer, Ranjana Prakash Desai, Lokeshwar Singh Panta, G P Mathur, Ruma Pal, and S.S. Quadri.
In a rare coincidence, Justice Sanjiv Khanna started his first day as a Supreme Court Judge in the same courtroom where his uncle, the late Justice H.R. Khanna, had his last day before retirement.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna stepped aside from hearing Sajjan Kumar's appeal in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. He had previously dismissed Kumar's bail request in the Delhi High Court in 2015.

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Written by Ruthvik Nayaka

Ruthvik Nayaka is a final year law student, his interests lies in areas including, but not limited to Corporate Law and taxation law. He is also the EN-ROADS Climate Ambassador. He facilities climate-workshop, climate action simulation game and group meetings.