As per convention, the successor suggested by the incumbent chief justice is most often the next most senior judge of the Supreme Court.

As head of the Supreme Court, the chief justice is responsible for the allocation of cases and appointment of constitutional benches that deal with important matters of law.

[6] In accordance with Article 145 of the Constitution of India and the Supreme Court Rules of Procedure of 1966, the chief justice has to allocate work to the other judges who are bound to refer the matter back to them (for re-allocation) in any case where they require it to be looked into by another group of experienced judges.

[8] Article 124(4) of the Constitution of India lays down the procedure for the removal of a judge of the Supreme Court, which is applicable to chief justices as well.

Accordingly, such provisions have been laid down in The Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1958.