Hummingbird News Desk
NEW DELHI, 6 APRIL: President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday appointed Justice N V Ramana as Chief Justice of India with effect from 24 April. He will take over from CJI SA Bobde who demits office on 23 April.
Mr Kovind, in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution of India, appointed Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, Judge of the Supreme Court, to be the Chief Justice of India. A notification in this regard has been issued by the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law & Justice today. The Warrant of Appointment and a copy of the Notification of Appointment have been handed over to Justice N. V. Ramana.
Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, will hold office till 26 August, 2022. He will be 48th Chief Justice of India.
He is first-generation lawyer, having agricultural background, and hails from Ponnavaram Village, Krishna District in Andhra Pradesh. He is an avid reader and literature enthusiast. He is passionate about Carnatic music.
He was called on to the Bar on 10.02.1983. He 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, he 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 Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana served as puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of India from 17.02.2014. 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 27.11.2019.
Initially he was appointed as a Permanent Judge of Andhra Pradesh High Court on 27.06.2000. He also functioned as Acting Chief Justice of his parent High Court from 10.3.2013 to 20.5.2013.
Over the years, justice Ramana has been a part of several landmark judgments. He headed the bench which in January last year ruled that access to the internet is a fundamental right by extension while pulling the government up for the telecommunications blackout in Jammu & Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370. The bench then ordered the J&K administration to review all orders pertaining to the imposition of curbs on telecom and internet services and put them in the public domain.
Adjudicating a bunch of petitions on the Kashmir restrictions, justice Ramana’s bench also underscored the significance of the freedom of the press. “Responsible governments are required to respect the freedom of the press at all times… journalists are to be accommodated in reporting and there is no justification for allowing a sword of Damocles to hang over the press indefinitely,” his verdict held.
In a more recent ruling, a bench headed by justice Ramana held in February the restriction against grant of bail in a stringent law like The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 “per se does not oust the ability of Constitutional Courts to grant bail on grounds of violation” of a fundamental right like the right to a speedy trial.
