--- title: "Who was the first Chief Justice of India?" description: "Who was the first Chief Justice of India?" author: "Ranbir Sharma" published: 2018-03-09 canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/38067/who-was-the-first-chief-justice-of-india category: "indian polity and constitution" tags: ["indian polity and constitution"] reading_time: 2 minutes --- # Who was the first Chief Justice of India? Who was the first [Chief Justice of India](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/110866/what-is-the-role-of-the-chief-justice-of-india)?\ ## Answers ### Answer by UTKARSHA SINGHROUL **“Sir Hiralal Jekisundas Kania” was the first [Chief Justice of Independent India](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/49622/what-is-the-procedure-to-elect-chief-justice-of-india)**. He has been in the office from January 26, 1950, to November 6, 1951. ![Who was the first Chief Justice of India?](https://answers.mindstick.com/questionanswer/366279fe-b0d5-48d0-95a1-c6244751c86c/images/53411a75-3e8a-47e1-abe2-0b2770c6a193.jpeg)\ The reason behind the short tenure of work is that his illness and **he died due to Heart Attack in the office on November 6, 1951,** at the age of 61. Basically, ‘Kania’ belongs to Surat, [Gujarat](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/40406/which-city-in-gujarat-has-been-formally-accorded-the-status-of-india-s-first-world-heritage-city-with-unesco). His Grand-Father was the Revenue Officer in the city under the British Government. Whereas, his father was the professor of Sanskrit in ‘Samaldas College’ in Bhavnagar and later became the Principal in same. Hiralal Kania and his elder brother, both were the Barrister and later became Chief Justice of India. Kania started his career as a Barrister while practicing at the Bombay [High Court](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/32897/which-is-the-first-high-court-in-india) in 1915. He also worked as an acting Editor of the ‘Indian Law Report’. In 1930, for a while, **he served as the acting Judge on the ‘Bombay High Court’**. In 1943, he was knighted as the ‘Birthday Honor’s List’ by the most Senior Associate Judge at the High Court. Then he succeeded ‘Sir John Beaumont’ retirement as the Chief Justice of India. He also got promoted to Associate Judge of the [Federal Court](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/32930/what-is-federal-court) on June 20, 1946. Then, after the retirement of Sir Patrick Spens, Kania succeeded him as the Chief Justice of India. As, when India became Republic on January 26, 1950, Kania was appointed as the Chief Justice of the [Supreme Court](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/43448/how-did-the-supreme-court-rulings-in-1883-work-against-the-civil-rights-act-of-1875) of Independent India. **He read the oath to India’s [First President](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/35910/who-was-the-first-president-to-die-in-office) Dr. Rajendra Prasad while acting as the Chief Justice of India.** --- Original Source: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/38067/who-was-the-first-chief-justice-of-india Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.