The chief justice of India (CJI) is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India and the highest-ranking officer of the Indian judiciary. The Constitution of India grants power to the president of India to appoint, as recommended by the outgoing chief justice in consultation with other judges, (as envisaged in Article 124 (2) of the Constitution) the next chief justice, who will serve until they reach the age of 65 or are removed by the constitutional process of impeachment.
The CJI ranks 6th in the Order of Precedence of India and as per convention, the successor suggested by the incumbent chief justice is most often the next most senior judge of the Supreme Court. However, this convention has been broken twice. In 1973, Justice A. N. Ray was appointed, superseding three senior judges, and in 1977 when Justice Mirza Hameedullah Beg was appointed as Chief Justice, superseding Justice Hans Raj Khanna.
