In what may eventually become a historic moment of the country, India is ready to have its first female chief justice.
Justice BV Nagarathna might become the first woman Chief Justice of India in 2027. However, her position may last only a little over a month.
She would be following in the footsteps of her father ES Venkataramiah, the former Chief Justice of India between June 1989 and December 1989.
There have been demands in India for a woman Chief Justice: Before retiring, the former Chief Justice of India SA Bobde had said that “the time has come for India to have a female Chief Justice”. The same views were shared by the current CJI, Justice Ramana who said that it’s time for the judiciary to be headed by a woman.
Hon’ble Mrs. Justice B.V. Nagarathna was enrolled as an advocate on 28-10-1987 in Bangalore. She practiced in Bangalore in constitutional law, commercial law, including insurance law, service law, administrative and public laws, etc. She later was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Karnataka High Court on 18-2-2008 and a permanent Judge on 17-02-2010.
The Supreme Court Collegium headed by India’s Chief Justice -NV Ramana reportedly recommended nine nominees to the central government on Tuesday to be appointed as judges of the Supreme Court.
Out of the 9 recommended judges, three are women.
The names of the nine recommended judges for elevation:
Women judges:
- Justice Hima Kohli – CJ of Telangana HC
- Justice BV Nagarathna- Karnataka HC judge
- Justice Bela Trivedi- Gujarat HC judge
From Bar:
- PS Narsimha- senior advocate
High Court judges and Chief Justices:
- Justice AS Oka- CJ of Karnataka HC
- Justice Vikram Nath- CJ of Gujarat HC
- Justice JK Maheshwari- CJ of Sikkim HC
- Justice CT Ravikumar- Kerala HC judge
- Justice MM Sundaresh- Madras HC judge
Out of these nine, Justice Vikram Nath, Justice BV Nagarathna and Senior Advocate PS Narasimha will be going ahead to become the Chief Justice of India.
Narasimha will become the ninth lawyer to be appointed directly from the Bar to the Supreme Court if his appointment is approved by the central government.
Narasimha’s recommendation comes less than a week after justice Rohinton’s retirement.
Earlier, the collegium could not reach a consensus because Judge Nariman was adamant in recommending two of the senior-most judges in India – Karnataka HC Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Tripura HC Chief Justice Akil Kureshi.
In addition to CJI Ramana, the five-member Collegium currently consists of Justice UU Lalit, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud, and L Nageswara Rao.
The collegium has not sent a single recommendation to the Union government for appointments in the supreme court, since the retirement of chief justice Ranjan Gogoi in November 2019.
The Supreme Court is currently working with nine vacancies of 34 that will increase to ten today after the retirement of Justice Navin Sinha. The Recommendations, if approved, will fill all current capacity making taking up the working strength to 33.
