| 1st | Harilal Jekisundas Kania | Bombay High Court | 26 Jan 1950 – 6 Nov 1951 | First Chief Justice of independent India |
| 6th | Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha | Patna High Court | 1 Oct 1959 – 31 Jan 1964 | Served during early consolidation of Supreme Court |
| 11th | Mohammad Hidayatullah | Bombay High Court | — | Only CJI to later serve as Vice-President of India |
| 21st | Ranganath Misra | Orissa High Court | 26 Sep 1990 – 24 Nov 1991 | Later Chairman of National Human Rights Commission |
| 27th | Jagdish Sharan Verma | Madhya Pradesh High Court | 25 Mar 1997 – 17 Jan 1998 | Known for progressive judgments on human rights |
| 35th | Ramesh Chandra Lahoti | Madhya Pradesh High Court | 1 Jun 2004 – 31 Oct 2005 | Focused on judicial reforms and case management |
| 46th | Ranjan Gogoi | Gauhati High Court | — | First Chief Justice of India from Northeast India |
| 47th | Sharad Arvind Bobde | Bombay High Court | — | Headed judiciary during COVID-19 period |
| 48th | Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana | Andhra Pradesh High Court | — | Emphasised judicial infrastructure and access to justice |
| 49th | Uday Umesh Lalit | Bar Council (Direct Elevation) | — | First CJI directly elevated from the Bar |
| 50th | Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud | Bombay High Court | — | Key contributor to constitutional and civil liberty jurisprudence |
| 51st | Sanjiv Khanna | Delhi High Court | — | Known for expertise in constitutional and commercial law |
| 52nd | B. R. Gavai | Bombay High Court | — | First Buddhist and second Dalit CJI (after K. G. Balakrishnan) |
| 53rd | Surya Kant | Himachal Pradesh High Court | 24 Nov 2025 – — | Youngest Advocate General of Haryana; practiced at Punjab & Haryana High Court |