From scrapping electoral bonds to upholding abrogation of Article 370: Landmark judgments delivered by Justice Sanjiv Khanna

As Chief Justice Chandrachud is demitting office on November 11, 2024, he has proposed Justice Khanna to take over as the next Chief Justice of India.

Upon the government’s approval, Justice Khanna’s tenure, however, will be brief, lasting for six months, as he is scheduled to retire on May 13, 2025.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna’s landmark judgments

• In 2024, Justice Khanna led a Division Bench that dismissed the Association for Democratic Reforms’ plea for 100 percent VVPAT verification of votes cast on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). In his judgment, Justice Khanna underscored the existing safeguards implemented by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to ensure free and fair elections. He noted that the current system provides “quick, error-free, and mischief-free counting of votes,” upholding the integrity of the electoral process.

• In the same year, a five-judge Bench, including Justice Khanna, declared the Electoral Bond Scheme unconstitutional. In his concurring opinion, Justice Khanna emphasized that donor privacy does not extend to donations made through banking channels, highlighting that donor identities are “asymmetrically known” to the bank officers handling the Bonds. While acknowledging the issue of retribution against donors, he ruled that this concern does not justify a scheme that infringes on voters’ collective right to information.

• In 2023, Justice Khanna contributed to a historic five-judge Bench decision that upheld the abrogation of Article 370, which had granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Justice Khanna clarified that Article 370 was an element of asymmetric federalism, not sovereignty, and its removal does not compromise India’s federal structure.

• Also in 2023, in Shilpa Sailesh Vs Varun Sreenivasan case, Justice Khanna authored a majority opinion that affirmed the Supreme Court’s power to directly grant divorce under Article 142 of the Constitution. He stated that the Court can grant a divorce on the grounds of an “irretrievable breakdown of marriage” to ensure “complete justice” between the parties.

• One of his most prominent judgments came in 2019, in the RTI judgment. Justice Khanna, in the majority opinion, ruled that judicial independence does not conflict with the right to information. He argued that while the Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ) could be subject to RTI requests, each case must be weighed on its merits, balancing transparency against judges’ right to privacy.