Justice NV Ramana takes oath as 48th Chief Justice of India

Justice NV Ramana took the oath as the 48th Chief Justice of India (CJI) on April 24, 2021. He was administered the oath of office by President Ram Nath Kovind in a brief ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He succeeds  Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, who retired on April 23rd. 

The President had earlier on April 6, 2021 appointed Justice NV Ramana as the next Chief Justice of India, with effect from April 24, 2021 after receiving recommendation from former CJI SA Bobde.  Justice NV Ramana was the senior-most Supreme Court Justice at the time of the CJI's retirement. 

Justice NV Ramana will serve as the Chief Justice of India till his retirement on August 26, 2022.

Who is Justice NV Ramana?

•Justice NV Ramana was till now serving as the senior-most judge in the Supreme Court of India. He was previously serving as the Delhi High Court Chief Justice and acting Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court.

•He was elevated as a Supreme Court Judge on February 17, 2014. With a term of 8 years in the Supreme Court of India, he is now next in line to be Chief Justice of India with effect from 24 April 2021 after the retirement of Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde.

•Justice NV Ramana is due to retire on August 26, 2022. 

•He has previously served as the President of the Andhra Pradesh Judicial Academy. 

•He had enrolled as an advocate in February 1983 and specialised in criminal, service, constitutional and inter-state River laws.  He has also served as a panel counsel for several Government Organizations.

•Overall, he has practiced in the Andhra Pradesh HC, Central and Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunals as well as the Supreme Court in Civil, Criminal, Constitutional, Labour, Service and Election matters.

•He has been credited for presiding over path-breaking judgments in constitution, tax, arbitration and criminal law. 

•He has previously headed SC benches that dealt with matters such as fast-tracking of trials in cases against legislators and restrictions imposed in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution.

•In March 2020, a bench headed by him rejected proposals to send petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 to a larger bench.

•He had also headed the constitution bench that had rejected the curative petitions filed by the convicts in the December 2012 gangrape and murder case, finally paving the way for their execution.

•As for his personal life, he was born into a humble family of agriculturalists in Ponnavaram Village, Krishna district in undivided Andhra Pradesh.