Justice NV Ramana appointed as 48th Chief Justice of India, set to replace incumbent S A Bobde

Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana was on Tuesday appointed as the next chief justice of India.

According to a notification issued by the government, Justice Ramana would take over as the 48th CJI on April 24 after incumbent S A Bobde demits office a day before.

Justice Ramana would retire on August 26, 2022.

“In exercise of the power conferred by clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution of India, The President is pleased to appoint Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, Judge of the Supreme Court, to be the Chief justice of India with effect from April 24,” the Centre said in official notification.

Presently, Justice Ramana is the senior-most Supreme Court judge after the CJI.

“In exercise of the power conferred by clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution of India, The President is pleased to appoint Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, Judge of the Supreme Court, to be the Chief justice of India with effect from April 24,” the Centre said in official notification.

Presently, Justice Ramana is the senior-most Supreme Court judge after the CJI.

Born on August 27, 1957, in Ponnavaram of Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh, Justice Ramana is the youngest of this three siblings. His parents Nuthalapati Ganapathi Rao and Sarojini were humble agriculturists. Although he briefly worked as a journalist for Telugu newspaper Eenadu, as a first-generation lawyer, he enrolled as an advocate and set up practice in Vijayawada in 1983.

Justice Ramana has walked the tightrope between upholding personal liberty and democratic values of the Constitution and giving weight to practical imperatives.

He is one of the few judges who displays his nameplate outside his official residence in Telugu, his mother tongue. Incidentally, Justice Ramana will be only the second CJI from Andhra Pradesh after Justice K Subba Rao who was CJI between 1966-67.