Measured Authority

In his first pronouncement since taking the oath as India’s 52nd Chief Justice, Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai has made his presence felt with surgical precision. The Supreme Court led by CJI Gavai struck down a decades-old land transfer by the Maharashtra government, declaring it illegal. The case, long marred by allegations of corruption, centres around forest land in Pune transferred in 1998 to private developers under dubious circumstances. Now, with this judgment, the land must return to its rightful custodian, the forest department.

The Bench minced no words in attributing blame, pointing to the alarming speed with which the land’s use was altered. In India’s notoriously slow and opaque system, where even clear violations of environmental and land-use law are often papered over, the judgment is a stark rebuke.

CJI Gavai’s debut verdict is a clear declaration of his intent. For a system that frequently bows to the pressures of powerful interests, his intervention reminds the establishment that the law still has teeth. A Buddhist and the son of a Republican Party of India stalwart, Justice Gavai is only the second Dalit to helm the apex court. That he began his tenure by holding the powerful to account is significant in more ways than one.

Deeply shaped by the egalitarian ideals of B.R. Ambedkar, Gavai has long been known for his constitutional scholarship and practical jurisprudence. His legal journey - from government pleader in Nagpur to the Bombay High Court and then the Supreme Court - has been devoid of fanfare, yet rich in substance. Despite having authored nearly 300 judgments, his reputation is not for grandstanding but for clarity and precision. He was part of the Bench that upheld the government’s controversial demonetisation policy in 2016, as well as the one that recently dismantled the opaque electoral bonds scheme. His record signals a jurist who neither slavishly upholds state power nor recklessly subverts it, but examines each case on its constitutional merits.

Forest land has often been the currency in India’s political economy, quietly traded to cement patronage networks. The 1998 decision by the Maharashtra government is but one among hundreds across states where environmental safeguards were flouted under political pressure or bureaucratic collusion. The message from the top bench now is that such impunity will no longer be tolerated.

Justice Gavai’s background only adds weight to this message. His father, R.S. Gavai, was not just a parliamentarian and governor, but a lifelong voice for the marginalised. That legacy now echoes in the highest echelons of India’s judiciary. Prominent voices in the legal fraternity have already lauded the Chief Justice as being pragmatic and results-oriented. His first judgment lives up to that billing.

With just over six months in office, CJI Gavai has limited time but ample opportunity. If his opening salvo is any guide, India may be in for a phase of principled pragmatism where legality is reasserted not with flourish, but with firmness.