Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana, who is retiring on August 26 after a tenure of one year and four months, stressed on the filling up of judicial vacancies, as well as improving the judicial infrastructure to tackle India’s perennial problem of high cases pendency at courts. As an advocate for increasing the sanctioned strength of judges, both at the district courts and the High Courts, Chief Justice Ramana has often highlighted the necessity to reduce the caseload per judge and to improve the judge-to-population ratio.
To this end, Chief Justice Ramana recommended the appointment of 255 judicial officers and advocates as High Court judges during his 16 months tenure as head of the Supreme Court Collegium.
Under his term as head of the Collegium, CJI Ramana appointed 11 Supreme Court judges, including Justice BV Nagarathna who is slated to create history as the first woman CJI in 2027. Also, 15 Chief Justices were appointed to various High Courts during his tenure.
Speaking at public platforms CJI Ramana has never minced words while defending the rights of the people under the Constitution.
In a recent convocation ceremony in Chhattisgarh, CJI Ramana urged people to build a democracy filled with “vibrancy and idealism”, where differences of identities and opinions are respected. He said every individual must be made aware of their rights and duties and a constitutional republic shall only thrive when its citizens are aware of what their Constitution envisages.
CJI Ramana also reminded that for the functioning of a healthy democracy, it is imperative that the people feel that their rights and dignity are protected and recognised and “expeditious adjudication of disputes is the hallmark of a healthy democracy”.
While in court, CJI Ramana questioned the relevancy of obsolete laws which have been carried over from the pre-independence era.
In a landmark case, a bench headed by CJI Ramana, on July 15 last year, put on hold the colonial-era sedition law and asked the Central government and States not to register any cases for the under Section 124A of Indian Penal Code which criminalises the offence of sedition.
CJI Ramana questioned the government on the need for sedition law after 75 years of independence. He pointed out that sedition law was used against freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
“Our concern is misuse of the law and the lack of accountability. Why it continues in the statute book after 75 years of our Independence,” CJI had said, adding that sedition law was meant to suppress the freedom movement and asked its need in today’s time.
CJI Ramana had said that the apex court will look into the plea challenging the Constitutional validity of section 124A while observing that it is a “serious threat to the functioning of individuals and parties”.
In another case while hearing pleas challenging the constitutionality of
certain provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), CJI Ramana told the government that “the way in which you are going, it looks like you have a problem with a person for even reading a newspaper”.
The CJI’s observation came while dismissing a plea filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against the bail granted to an accused in a UAPA case.
Last year, when the Pegasus snooping issue reached the apex court, CJI Ramana then constituted a committee to look into the allegations of the government allegedly using Israeli software Pegasus for snooping.
He had criticised the Central government which had refused to file a detailed affidavit on the issue citing national security.
