What should be on CJI Ramana’s priority list

Deepika Kinhal is Senior Resident Fellow and leads the Judicial Reforms work at Vidhi. She is currently managing multiple independent and engaged projects which explore the intersection of law and policy with other disciplines such as technology, design, management etc. She is working towards making the JALDI (Justice, Access, and Lowering Delays in India) mission at Vidhi a multidisciplinary, collaborative, innovative hub for judicial reforms. Deepika is currently a part of the experts group set up by the Supreme Court’s E-committee to envision e-courts phase III project. Her work at Vidhi across the years has focused on studying court management systems across different levels of judicial hierarchy, with specific attention on tackling government litigation across these levels. She regularly writes in leading print and online media on issues concerning judiciary, women and child rights. She also collaborates with other CSOs in conducting legal awareness camps and has conducted gender sensitization and legal trainings in police departments in Karnataka. She graduated from NLSIU, Bangalore, in 2012. Since then she has worked at CAM (real estate and capital markets) and Dua Associates (litigation team) before joining Vidhi. She is a trained Carnatic singer with a brief stint at All India Radio and in kannada movies.

Ritwika is Senior Resident Fellow and Lead at Charkha, Vidhi’s Constitutional Law Centre. Her current research is focused on comparative federalism, local governments, and electoral reforms. From 2014-17, Ritwika was a Research Fellow in the Public Law vertical at Vidhi. She advised several departments and regulatory authorities under the Government of India, on questions concerning constitutional validity of proposed legislation, legislative competence of the Union and states, and contours of the powers and functions of regulators. Ritwika also assisted the Union of India in preparing its written submissions in the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Case. Between 2019-2020, Ritwika worked as a Research Associate at DAKSH, Bengaluru. She obtained her LL.M. from the University of Cambridge in 2018. She graduated with a B.A. LL.B. (Hons.)) from the Indraprastha University, Delhi in 2013, and the LL.M. from the NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad in 2014. Ritwika is the co-editor of “Appointment of Judges to the Supreme Court of India: Transparency, Accountability and Independence” (Oxford University Press, 2018), a volume of essays addressing the politics, doctrine, and crucial developments pertaining to judicial appointments in India.