Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai was on Tuesday appointed the next chief justice of India, the Union Ministry of Law and Justice said.

Gavai, the second-most senior judge of the Supreme Court, will assume office on May 14, succeeding Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna. Khanna will retire on May 13.

The Constitution grants the president the power to appoint judges in the Supreme Court.

Earlier this month, Khanna wrote to the ministry proposing Gavai as his successor. The letter is part of the convention on the appointment of the top court’s chief justices.

Gavai, who will become the 52nd chief justice of the Supreme Court, will have a tenure of six months before he retires on November 23.

Gavai practiced at the Bombay High Court between 1987 and 1990, and mainly before the Nagpur bench of the High Court.

He served as government pleader and public prosecutor for the Nagpur bench since 2000 and was made an additional judge in 2003. He became a permanent judge in 2005.

Gavai was elevated as a Supreme Court judge in May 2019.