No More Stumbling Blocks In Justice Ramana's Elevation As CJI
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-03-25 07:43:08
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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
Although convention and tradition both demand that the senior-most judge after the incumbent chief justice is appointed as the next Chief Justice of India (CJI), sometimes there are some extenuating circumstances that might prevent that. Hence, when the government asked the outgoing CJI S A Bobde to recommend his successor, there were no doubts that he would recommend Justice N V Ramana for the post. But there was one stumbling block in the form of a letter the Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Reddy had written to Union Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. In that letter, Reddy had accused Justice Ramana of having a stranglehold over the judiciary in Andhra Pradesh and using it to get judges pass adverse orders against the state government. He had also accused the two daughters of Justice Ramana of having bought land in Amravati at very low prices even before it was officially known that the city would be the next capital of the state.
But the CJI and two other senior judges of the apex court examined the charges against Justice Ramana in full details and found that the charges were "false, frivolous, baseless and motivated". The judges also opined that the letter was an attempt to "brow beat the judge". Justice Ramana has never been controversial. His name has never cropped up in any wrongdoing or even a controversial judgment. He has always performed his duties as a judge of the apex court from 2014, and before that as a judge of Andhra Pradesh HC and CJ of Delhi High Court, with utmost sincerity and application of mind. With the apex court having found out that the charges against him are without any basis, he is eminently suitable to be the next CJI. If appointed, Justice Ramana will take oath on April 24 and will have a term of one year and four months.
