Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana (63) was appointed as the 48th Chief Justice of India (CJI) by President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday. He will take over as the CJI on April 24, a day after the retirement of present CJI SA Bobde.

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"The President of India, 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," read a ministry of law and justice statement that was issued on Tuesday.

CJI Bobde was the one who had recommended Justice Ramana as his successor. His term will be till August 26, 2022.

A first-generation lawyer, Justice Ramana was born into an agricultural family at Ponnavaram village in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh on August 27, 1957. He will be the second CJI from Andhra Pradesh after Justice K Subba Rao, who was the ninth CJI in 1966-67.

Career

Justice Ramana became a member of the Bar on February 10, 1983. In his nearly four-decade-long career, Justice Ramana has practiced in the High Courts of Andhra Pradesh and Delhi, central and Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunals and the SC, specialising in a wide range of matters, including civil, criminal, constitutional, labour-, service- and election-related cases.

"He has specialised in constitutional, criminal, service and inter-state river laws," as per his profile on the official website of the Supreme Court.

He was the Additional Standing Counsel for Railways in the Central Administrative Tribunal at Hyderabad before becoming the Additional Advocate General of Andhra Pradesh.

He was "appointed as a permanent Judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on June 27, 2000", and functioned as an acting Chief Justice from March 10, 2013, to May 20, 2013.

He was elevated as the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court in 2013 and as an SC judge the next year.

Justice Ramana has been serving as the puisne Judge of the Supreme Court since February 17, 2014.

He also served as the chairman of the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee from March 7 to November 26, 2019. Besides, he has been serving as the executive chairman of the National Legal Services Authority since November 27, 2019.

Important cases

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

Interesting facts

Justice Ramana loves literature and is an avid reader. He is passionate about Carnatic music.

(Edited by : Jomy)