SC writes to centre to vacate official CJI bungalow nonetheless occupied by ex-Chief Justice Chandrachud

The Supreme Court docket has taken the weird step of asking the Union authorities to urgently vacate the official Chief Justice’s residence, which remains to be occupied by former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, reported the Hindustan Occasions.

In a letter dated July 1, the Supreme Court docket wrote to the Ministry of Housing and City Affairs (MoHUA), requesting that Bungalow No. 5 on Krishna Menon Marg in Lutyens’ Delhi — the designated home for India’s sitting CJI — be handed again instantly.

“I’m to request you to take possession of Bungalow No. 5, Krishna Menon Marg, from Hon’ble Dr. Justice DY Chandrachud with none additional delay as not solely the permission that was granted for retention… has expired on thirty first Could, 2025, but in addition the interval of six months supplied in Rule 3B of the 2022 Guidelines has expired on tenth Could, 2025,” the letter from a Supreme Court docket official to the MoHUA secretary said.

Justice Chandrachud, who served because the fiftieth CJI from November 2022 to November 2024, continues to stay within the Kind VIII bungalow almost eight months after retiring. His two successors — Justices Sanjiv Khanna and the present CJI Bhushan R Gavai — have chosen to not transfer into the Krishna Menon Marg home and have stayed of their earlier official residences as a substitute.

Based on the letter, Justice Chandrachud had written on December 18, 2024, to then CJI Sanjiv Khanna, searching for permission to remain at 5 Krishna Menon Marg till April 30, 2025. He defined that though he had been allotted Bungalow No. 14 on Tughlak Highway underneath Rule 3B of the Supreme Court docket Judges (Modification) Guidelines, 2022, renovations on the new home have been delayed due to pollution-related building bans underneath GRAP-IV.