--- title: "Who was the first Chief Justice of Free India?" description: "Who was the first Chief Justice of Free India?" author: "Lily Chitlangiya" published: 2021-11-23 canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/94188/who-was-the-first-chief-justice-of-free-india category: "law & legal issues" tags: ["laws and legal issues"] reading_time: 3 minutes --- # Who was the first Chief Justice of Free India? Who was the first [Chief Justice](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/93609/what-is-the-selection-process-of-the-chief-justice-of-the-supreme-court-of-india) of [Free](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/85717/the-best-free-reading-apps-for-book-lovers) India? \ ## Answers ### Answer by Sanjay Goenka ![Who was the first Chief Justice of Free India?](https://answers.mindstick.com/questionanswer/6aa5e8ca-3083-4f6b-9006-05d3c614bed6/images/67992fad-7fb7-4585-809b-f074d6d062e7.png) \ ## [Sir Harilal Jekisundas Kania](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._J._Kania#:~:text=Kania,-From%20Wikipedia%2C%20the&text=Sir%20Harilal%20Jekisundas%20Kania%20(3,India%20from%201950%20to%201951.) was the first chief justice of free India **Sir Harilal jekisundas** served the Nation **from 1950 to 1951** as the**[Chief Justice of India](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/72333/how-many-judges-does-supreme-court-of-india-have-including-the-chief-justice-of-india)**. He was appointed by the then president of India **“Dr. Rajendra Prasad** “ he preceded the position of company law of Britain establishment and was **succeeded by M. Patanjali Sastri**, he married the daughter of **Sir Chunnilal Mehta**, name of the daughter was **Kusum Mehta,** he used to live with his family in which he has one child girl, **Rukmini shah.** Kania was **born in a middle-class family at Surat** so he completed his education from **government law college in 1911, Mumbai** and **government law college, in 1910, Chennai** .and after done with the degree he registered himself as a barrister **at the Bombay High Court in 1915,** he also used to serve some time as the member of the executive **council of the [governor of Bombay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Maharaj_Singh).** And he had also worked as the acting **editor of the [Indian Law reports.](https://www.crl.edu/indian-law-reports)** **In 1930,** he was appointed as the **acting judge on the Bombay high court**. After completing one year he was promoted as the **additional judge in the same court.** He served the **Bombay high court until 1933** and then he returned to the bar and then he was appointed as the **associate judge in June**. For his seniority of association in the court, he was also awarded as the **most senior associate judge at the high court**. And served as **acting Chief justice** from **May –September 1944** and from **June – October 1945**. **On 20 June 1946**, he was promoted to associate judge of the **federal court of India**, after being headed by **[Sir Petrick Spens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Spens,_1st_Baron_Spen).** After the retirement of **Patric Pence** on **14 august 1947,** Kania succeeded him as **chief justice**. And in this way after becoming a republican country **on 26 Jan 1950**. Kania was appointed the **first chief justice of the supreme court of India**. And during his serving, he read the oath to the **first president of India [Dr. Rajendra Prasead](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajendra_Prasad).** He served his country to his last breathing and while the serving he died in a sudden attack of heart. **On November 6, 1951.** The aging time of the **CJI** till his serving was 61. ## Some Important Cases 1- **The criminal contempt case of 1942.** 2- **A.K. Gopalan V the State of Madras. Union of India on May 1942.** 3- **Province of Bombay vs Kusaldas S. Advani and others on 15 September. 1950** 4- **The State of Bombay vs Atma Ram Sridhar Vaidya on 25 January 1950.** 5- **Chiranjit Lal Chaudhari Vs the Union of India and others on 4 December 1950.** \ \ \ \ \ --- Original Source: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/94188/who-was-the-first-chief-justice-of-free-india Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.