Justice Uday Umesh Lalit was sworn in August 27 as India’s 49th Chief Justice, a day after Justice NV Ramana retired from the highest judicial post. President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office as Chief Justice of India to Justice Lalit this morning at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
In accordance with convention and seniority norms, Justice Ramana recommended Justice Lalit as his successor. Following that, the President confirmed Justice Lalit’s appointment as the new Chief Justice of India, or CJI. Justice Lalit will serve as the head of India’s judiciary for 74 days before retiring on November 8th.
Justice Lalit will focus on three key areas
Yesterday, at Justice Ramana’s farewell function, Justice Lalit stated that during his nearly three-month tenure, he will focus on three key areas, with one of his top priorities being to make the listing of cases as simple, clear, and transparent as possible.
Justice Lalit has also promised to establish a clear regime in which any urgent matters can be raised before the respective benches of the Supreme Court.
He promised that the Supreme Court would have at least one Constitution Bench operating throughout the year.
Justice Lalit said, “I have always believed that the role of the Supreme Court is to lay down law with clarity, consistency, and the best possible way to do it is to have larger benches as early as possible, wherever the matters are referred to such benches so that the issues get clarified immediately, the matter has consistency and the people are well aware of what exactly are the contours of the peculiar positions in law.”
On his last working day, outgoing CJI Ramana apologised for not being able to list all pending matters and stated that the court has been firefighting pendency, which increased alarmingly during the pandemic months.
Before becoming a Supreme Court justice, Justice Lalit was a well-known senior advocate. On August 13, 2014, he was appointed to the Supreme Court.
Second Chief Justice to be appointed directly from bench of Supreme Court
Justice Lalit will be the second Chief Justice to be appointed directly from the bench of the Supreme Court. In March 1964, Justice SM Sikri, who became the 13th Chief Justice of India in January 1971, became the first lawyer to be elevated directly to the top court bench.
Justice Lalit was born on November 9, 1957, in Solapur, Maharashtra. His father, UR Lalit, was an additional judge at the Bombay High Court’s Nagpur bench and a senior advocate at the Supreme Court. In June 1983, Justice Lalit became an advocate. From 1983 to 1985, he was a criminal law specialist at the Bombay High Court.
In January 1986, he relocated his practise to Delhi, and the Supreme Court designated him as a senior advocate in April 2004. He was later appointed by the CBI as a special public prosecutor to conduct the trial in the 2G spectrum allocation case.
Following Justice Lalit’s retirement on November 8, Justice DY Chandrachud, the next in line for the post, is expected to be appointed as the 50th Chief Justice of India.
