PresidentRam Nath Kovind on Saturday administered oath of office to 48th Chief Justiceof India Justice N.V. Ramana in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu and other dignitaries at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Asthe Chief Justice of India, Justice Ramana will have a term till August 26,2022. Before his elevation to the Supreme Court on February 17, 2014, JusticeRamana was the chief justice of the Delhi High Court. Justice Ramana wasappointed as judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in 2000. He has also beenthe acting Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh high Court.
OnApril 6, the President had signed on the appointment of Justice N.V. Ramana asthe next Chief Justice of India. Justice Ramana took over as Chief Justiceafter the retirement of Justice S.A. Bobde on April 23.
InOctober 2020, a huge controversy had erupted as the Andhra Pradesh chiefminister had written to the then Chief Justice alleging state's High Court wasbeing used to "destabilize and topple his democratically electedgovernment". The letter alleged that Justice Ramana was trying to controlthe High Court and also trying to influence cases, which impact the stategovernment. However, an in-house inquiry did not find any merit in theseallegations.
JusticeRamana has presided over several high-profile cases in the top court. In Marchlast year, Justice Ramana headed five-judge Constitution bench which declinedto refer to a larger seven-judge bench a batch of petitions challenging theconstitutional validity of the Centre's decision to revoke provisions ofArticle 370, which gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu andKashmir.
JusticeRamana also headed a three-judge bench which dealt with the legal questionsemerging from the resignation of 17 rebel MLAs of Congress and JDS ofKarnataka. Justice Ramana headed bench, also ordered expediting trial inpending cases against former and sitting MPs and MLAs.