President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday appointed Justice N.V. Ramana as Chief Justice of India with effect from April 24.
Born into a family of agriculturists in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, Chief Justice of India-designate, Justice Ramana, has adorned many hats — from student leader working for farmers and industrial workers to journalist for a leading Telugu newspaper to a first-generation lawyer.
He was Additional Advocate General for Andhra Pradesh before being called to the State High Court Bench in 2001. Justice Ramana was the Delhi High Court Chief Justice prior to his elevation to the apex court. As CJI, Justice Ramana has a tenure of 16 months.
Incumbent CJI Sharad A. Bobde had recommended Justice Ramana, the seniormost judge of the Supreme Court, for appointment as the 48th Chief Justice of India in a letter addressed to the Ministry of Law and Justice on March 24.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution, the President is pleased to appoint Sri. Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, judge of the supreme Court, to be the Chief Justice of India with effect from April 24, 2021,” the Ministry of Law and Justice notification said.
With this, both the Supreme Court and the government have followed the seniority norm in the appointment of CJIs.
As Executive Chairman of National Legal Services Authority, Justice Ramana was responsible for making India’s legal aid programme the largest in the world wherein legal aid is not only provided on the basis of ‘means test’ rather on basis of fixed categories.
Justice Ramana has said one of his primary objectives, besides providing easy access to justice, would be to improve the judicial infrastructure through a special purpose vehicle called the ‘National Judicial Infrastructure Corporation’ to act as a nodal agency.
