Justice UU Lalit Takes Oath As India’s 49th Chief Justice
Justice UU Lalit will be the second Chief Justice of India to be promoted from the bar directly to the Supreme Court bench. In March 1964, Justice SM Sikri became the first attorney to be promoted directly to the top court bench and went on to become India’s 13th Chief Justice in January 1971.
A day after Justice NV Ramana resigned from the top judicial position, Justice Uday Umesh Lalit was sworn in as the 49th Chief Justice of India. Justice Lalit was sworn in as Chief Justice of India by President Droupadi Murmu this morning at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
As per tradition and seniority rules, Justice Ramana had recommended Justice Lalit as his replacement. Later, the President officially announced Justice Lalit as the new Chief Justice of India.
In charge of India’s judiciary for only 74 days, Justice Lalit will step down on November 8.
#WATCH | President Droupadi Murmu administers the oath of Office of the Chief Justice of India to Justice Uday Umesh Lalit at Rashtrapati Bhavan pic.twitter.com/HqayMJDwBB
— ANI (@ANI) August 27, 2022
At Justice Ramana’s goodbye celebration yesterday, Justice Lalit declared that during his roughly three-month term, he will concentrate on three main areas, with the listing of cases being one of his top priorities.
Additionally, Justice Lalit has pledged to uphold a clear-cut system in which any urgent concerns may be openly brought before the relevant benches of the highest court.
He guaranteed that the Supreme Court would have at least one Constitution Bench operating all year round.
“I have always believed that the role of the Supreme Court is to lay down law with clarity and 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 right away, the matter has consistency, and the people are well aware of what exactly are the contours of the peculiar positions in law,” Justice Lalit said.
On his last day of employment, outgoing CJI Ramana expressed regret for not being able to list all the outstanding cases and claimed that the court had been battling a backlog of cases that had rapidly increased during the previous months.
Prior to being appointed as a Supreme Court judge, Justice Lalit was a well-known senior attorney. On August 13, 2014, he was chosen to serve as a Supreme Court justice.
Justice Lalit will be the second Chief Justice of India to be promoted from the bar directly to the Supreme Court bench. In March 1964, Justice SM Sikri became the first attorney to be promoted directly to the top court bench and went on to become India’s 13th Chief Justice in January 1971.
On November 9, 1957, in Solapur, Maharashtra, Justice Lalit was born. His father, UR Lalit, served as a prominent Supreme Court attorney as well as an additional judge at the Bombay High Court’s Nagpur bench. In June 1983, Justice Lalit applied to become an advocate. From 1983 to 1985, he worked as a criminal law specialist in the Bombay High Court.
In January 1986, he moved his practise to Delhi, and the Supreme Court named him a senior advocate in April 2004.
Later, he was chosen by the CBI to serve as a special public prosecutor for the case involving the allotment of 2G spectrum.
Justice DY Chandrachud, who is the next in line for the position, is anticipated to be named the 50th Chief Justice of India after Justice Lalit retires on November 8.