Meet Justice BV Nagarathna who can become FIRST woman Chief Justice of India

New Delhi: In what can become eventually a historic moment, India is poised to have her first female Chief Justice of India. Justice BV Nagarathna, currently a judge  with the Karnataka High Court can be the first woman Chief Justice of India in 2027. However, her tenure is likely to be a little over a month.

The Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana is understood to have ended the nearly-two-year-long logjam by recommending nine names for appointment as judges in the apex court, sources said. With the retirement of Justice RF Nariman on August 12, the strength of judges in the top court had come down to 25 as against the sanctioned strength of 34, including the CJI. Significantly, no appointment has been made after the superannuation of the then CJI Ranjan Gogoi on March 19, 2019. Sources said that the five-member collegium, which also comprises Justices U U Lalit, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao, has sent three names of woman judges, including Justice BV Nagarathna.

According to the people familiar with the development, besides Justice Nagarathna , two other women judges picked for the appointment are Justice Hima Kohli, the Chief Justice of Telangana High Court, and Justice Bela Trivedi, a Gujarat High Court judge.

Justice BV Nagarathna was appointed as an Additional Judge of the High Court of Karnataka in 2008 and as a permanent judge nearly two years later. If she becomes the CJI, she will be following in the footsteps of her father ES Venkataramiah, who was the Chief Justice of India between June 1989 and December 1989. 

Currently, the top court has only one woman judge, justice Indira Banerjee, who is set to retire in September 2022. There have only been eight women judges appointed in the Supreme Court till date.

(With Agency inputs)