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Justice BV Nagarathna poised to be first woman Chief Justice in 2027
After the new judges take oath, the Supreme Court will have a working strength of 33, with just one vacancy.
In a landmark moment, President Ram Nath Kovind approved the appointment of Justice BV Nagarathna, and eight others to the Supreme Court, paving the way for her to be the first woman Chief Justice of India (CJI) in 2027. After the new judges take oath, the Supreme Court will have a working strength of 33, with just one vacancy.
Justice Nagarathna is presently a judge at Karnataka high court, and is among the three women judges whose names were cleared by the President on Thursday. The two other women judges are, Telangana high court chief justice Hima Kohli and justice Bela Trivedi of the Gujarat high court.
The Supreme Court currently has only a lone woman judge, Justice Indira Banerjee, who is set to retire in 2022. Till date the apex court has had only eight women judges.
The other names recommended for elevation were that of Karnataka high court chief justice Abhay Oka, Gujarat court chief justice Vikram Nath, Sikkim high court chief justice JK Maheshwari, justice CT Ravikumar of Kerala high court, and justice MM Sundaresh of the Madras high court.
The collegium in the Supreme Court comprising CJI NV Ramana, and justices Uday U Lalit, AM Khanwilkar, Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao had cleared the nine names for appointment to the country’s top court on August 17.
Justice Nagarathna, who started as a lawyer in Bengaluru, will be the second CJI in her family, as her father, ES Venkataramiah, was the CJI for almost six months in 1989. She was appointed to Karnataka high court as an additional judge in February 2008, and made a permanent judge two years later.
As an advocate she dealt with cases pertaining to constitutional law, commercial law, and administrative law, and as a justice of Karnataka high court she delivered judgements on regulation of electronic media, on education policies etc.
