The President today approved all nine names, including three women, recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium and accepted by the government for appointment as judges of the top court. The judges will take oath on August 31. It is probably the first time that nine names have been recommended for the Supreme Court and all have been approved by the government.
Justice BV Nagarathna, of the Karnataka High Court, is in line to become the first woman Chief Justice of India – a milestone in the nation’s history. PS Narasimha, among the judges for the Supreme Court elevation, is also in line to become the Chief Justice, the third lawyer from the bar to occupy the top post.
Justice SM Sikri was the first lawyer to be elevated directly to the Supreme Court bench in March 1964. He became the Chief Justice of India in 1971. Justice U.U Lalit, who was elevated directly from a lawyer to a Supreme Court judge, is set to become Chief Justice after N.V Ramana retires next year in August. The Supreme Court, which has 25 judges against a sanctioned strength of 34, will be left with only one vacancy after the new judges are sworn in.
In a first, the list included three women judges, of whom Justice Nagarathna could go on to become the country’s first woman Chief Justice, though for just over a month — from September 25 to October 29, 2027. Besides her, Gujarat Chief Justice Nath and Senior Advocate Narasimha also have a chance to become the Chief Justice of India, also with short tenures.
The daughter of former CJI E S Venkataramaiah, Justice Nagarathna practised commercial law in Bengaluru before being appointed as Additional Judge of the Karnataka High Court in 2008. She is currently the second most senior judge in the High Court.
Another elevation from Karnataka High court- Justice Oka has dealt with PILs on a plethora of subjects — from lakes, illegal constructions, encroachments and public health. CJ Abhay Shreeniwas Oka did his LLM from the University of Bombay. He got enrolled as an advocate in the year 1983 and began practising in Thane district court in the chamber of his father Justice Shreeniwas W Oka. In 1985-86, he joined the chamber of VP Tipnis, a former judge of Bombay high court and ex-Lokayukta. He was elevated as an additional judge of Bombay high court on August 29, 2003, and made a permanent judge from November 12, 2005. He took oath as chief justice of Karnataka high court on May 10, 2019. Within months, the pandemic arrived and CJ Oka was instrumental in ensuring quick adoption of video-conferencing regulations and smooth functioning of courts across the state despite the several restrictions in place.
Image source: The Quint
