The collegium is also understood to have selected senior advocate and former Additional Solicitor General P S Narasimha for direct appointment from the Bar.
New Delhi, India, August 18 : Justice BV Nagarathna would become the first woman Chief Justice of India in 2027 if the Centre accepts the recommendations of the Supreme Court Collegium. According to a PTI report, the SC 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. With the retirement of Justice R F 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 B V Nagarathna who could become the first woman CJI.
Justice BV Nagarathna is presently a judge with the Karnataka High Court. She was appointed as an Additional Judge of the High Court of Karnataka in 2008 and as a permanent judge nearly two years later. She is likely to have a month-long tenure. She will be following in the footsteps of her father ES Venkataramiah, who was the CJI between June 1989 and December 1989.
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.
The collegium is also understood to have selected senior advocate and former Additional Solicitor General P S Narasimha for direct appointment from the Bar. The other names, as per sources, are Justices Abhay Shreeniwas Oka (Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court), Vikram Nath (Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court), Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari (Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court), C T Ravi Kumar (a judge in Kerala High Court) and M M Sundersh (also a judge in Kerala High Court).
The recommendations, if accepted, will fill all current vacancies taking the working strength to 33. One additional vacancy would arise on Wednesday when Justice Navin Sinha retires.
