Justice NV Ramana appointed next Chief Justice of India

Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana was appointed the 48th Chief Justice of India by the President on Tuesday (April 6).

Justice Ramana, 63, will take over as the Chief Justice (CJI) of the Supreme Court of India on April 24, a day after incumbent CJI SA Bobde retires.

Justice Ramana was part of a bench that ruled that suspension of Internet in Jammu and Kashmir should be reviewed immediately. He was also one of the judges who held that the Chief Justice’s office comes under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Ramana is a first-generation lawyer, having agricultural background, and hails from Ponnavaram village of Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh. He is an avid reader and literature enthusiast and is passionate about Carnatic music.

He will be the second Chief Justice of India from Andhra Pradesh; Justice K Subba Rao was the ninth Chief Justice of India from 1966-67.

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Ramana practiced in High Court of Andhra Pradesh, Central and Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunals, and the Supreme Court of India. He specialized on Constitutional, Civil, Labour, Service and Election matters. He has also practiced before Inter-State River Tribunals.

During his practice years, Ramana was a Panel Counsel for various government organizations and as Additional Standing Counsel for Railways in the Central Administrative Tribunal at Hyderabad before rendering services as Additional Advocate General of Andhra Pradesh.

Justice Ramana served as puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of India from 2014 till date. He served as Chairman, Supreme Court Legal Services Committee from March 7, 2019 to November 26, 2019. He has also served as the Executive Chairman of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) since November 2019.

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Initially he was appointed as a Permanent Judge of Andhra Pradesh High Court in 2000. He also functioned as Acting Chief Justice of his parent High Court for a brief period in 2013.

Justice Ramana, 63, was part of a bench that ruled that suspension of Internet in Jammu and Kashmir should be reviewed immediately. He was also part of the panel of judges which held that the Chief Justice’s office comes under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.