Justice NV Ramana to be next Chief Justice of India

As he prepares to retire on April 23, Chief Justice of India SA Bobde has recommended Justice NV Raman as his successor.

According to sources, CJI Bobde has written a letter to the Ministry of Law and Justice recommending Justice Ramana for appointment as the 48th CJI.

Once confirmed, Justice Ramana is slated to take over as the next Chief Justice on April 24, 2022, and will retire on August 26, 2022. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad wrote to CJI Bobde on Friday, requesting his suggestion for the appointment of the next CJI.

There is a tradition of the CJI recommending the senior-most Supreme Court judge as his successor. It was not pursued only twice: the first time, when Justice AN Ray was appointed CJI on April 25, 1973, superseding three senior-most judges, and the second time, when Justice MH Beg was appointed CJI on January 29, 1977, superseding Justice HR Khanna.

According to the Memorandum of Procedure regulating the appointment of members of the higher judiciary, “appointment to the office of the Chief Justice of India should be of the senior-most Supreme Court judge deemed fit to hold the office.”

It states that the Law Minister would solicit the recommendation of the outgoing Chief Justice of India for the appointment of the next CJI at an appropriate time. Following receipt of the CJI’s recommendation, the Law Minister forwards it to the Prime Minister, who advises the President on such appointments.
Justice Ramana was born on August 27, 1957, in Ponnavaram Village, Krishna District, to an agricultural family. He holds B.Sc BL degrees.

On February 10, 1983, he was admitted as an advocate and practiced in the Andhra Pradesh High Court, the Central and Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunals, and the Supreme Court of India in Civil, Criminal, Constitutional, Labour, Service, and Election matters.

He specializes in Constitutional, Criminal, Service, and Inter-State River legislation, and he has served as Panel Counsel for several government organizations, as well as Additional Standing Counsel for Central Government and Standing Counsel for Railways in the Central Administrative Tribunal in Hyderabad. He was also the Andhra Pradesh’s Additional Advocate General.

On June 27, 2000, he was nominated as a permanent Judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, and he also served as Acting Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court from March 10, 2013 to May 20, 2013.

He had attended several National and International Conferences in India and overseas, and had presented papers on a variety of topics. Appointed as the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court on September 2, 2013, Justice Ramana was elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India on February 17, 2014.