The Chief Justice of India (CJI) is a constitutional office and the head of the Supreme Court of India, the highest judicial forum in the country. The office was established with the commencement of the Constitution on January 26, 1950, succeeding the Chief Justice of the Federal Court of India, which began on October 1, 1937. The first CJI was H. J. Kania. The position is mandated by Article 124(1) of the Constitution, which provides for a Supreme Court consisting of a CJI and other judges.
The CJI is appointed by the President of India under Article 124(2). By a long-standing convention, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court is recommended by the outgoing CJI and appointed to the post. The CJI holds office until attaining the age of 65 years and can only be removed through the process of impeachment outlined in Article 124(4).
The CJI is the Master of the Roster, an administrative power that involves allocating cases to different benches and constituting the crucial Constitutional Benches that interpret the Constitution. This role ensures the smooth functioning of the court and is distinct from the CJI's judicial function as "first among equals". The CJI is intrinsically connected to the Collegium system, a judge-led mechanism for the appointment and transfer of judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts. This system, which consists of the CJI and the four senior-most Supreme Court judges, evolved from the Second Judges Case (1993) and was clarified in the Third Judges Case (1998). A recent significant change was the attempt to replace the Collegium with the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) through the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2014. However, the Supreme Court declared the NJAC unconstitutional in 2015, thereby restoring the Collegium system for judicial appointments.