Center Approves All 9 Judges Including Three Women

Center approves all 9 judges including three women recommended by SC Collegium, Justice Nagaratna can become the first woman CJI.

The Center has approved all the nine names recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium, including three women judges, for appointment as judges of the apex court.

According to those with knowledge of the matter, the names have been sent to the President for his approval.

Last week, the Supreme Court Collegium, headed by Chief Justice N.V. Raman and Justice U.U. Lalit, A.M. Khanwilkar, D.Y. Chandrachud, and L. Nageswara Rao had recommended nine names.

These include eight high court judges and a senior advocate, for promotion to the apex court.

Justice BV Nagarathna of Karnataka High Court is the first in line to become the first woman Chief Justice of India.

Justice Nagarathna’s father, Justice E.S. Venkatramaiah was CJI for a few months in 1989.

Supreme Court judge Justice Navin Sinha retired on August 18, due to which 10 justices are to be filled in the sanctioned seats of 35 in the apex court.

Notably, no appointment has been made since the retirement of the then CJI Ranjan Gogoi on March 19, 2019.

At the same time, now after taking the oath of nine judges, only one post will be left with the top court.

According to people with more knowledge, apart from Justice Nagarathna, two other women judges selected for the appointment are CJ of Telangana HC Justice Hima and Gujarat HC Judge Bela Trivedi.

Center approves all 9 judges: Senior Advocate P.S. Narasimha is the collegium’s choice for a direct appointment to the bench.

Narasimha was recommended by Justice Rohinton F. Nariman, who was the fifth lawyer to be appointed directly from the Bar. Justice Nariman retired on August 12.

Other names finalized by the collegium are Justice Abhay Srinivas Oka (Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court), Vikram Nath (Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court),.

Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari (Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court), CT Ravi Kumar (Judge in Kerala High Court), and MM Sundarash (also a Judge in Kerala High Court).’

This will probably be the first time that nine judges have been recommended for promotion by the collegium and the Center has cleared all the names.