Justice Uday Umesh Lalit took oath as the 49th Chief Justice of India (CJI) on Saturday at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the President of India.
President of India, Droupadi Murmu, administered the oath-taking ceremony. Vice President of India, Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, and Union ministers were present at the ceremony. Justice Lalit's predecessor, Justice NV Ramana, was also present at the ceremony.
During the ceremony, Justice Lalit chalked out three priorities that he would endeavour to fulfil during his 74-day tenure. He highlighted three areas in which he intends to work: ensuring that at least one constitution bench is functioning in the Supreme Court throughout the year, listing cases for hearing in the top court, and mentioning urgent matters.
Reportedly, Justice Lalit will have a brief tenure of fewer than three months because he will retire on November 8 2022. The retirement age of judges of the Supreme Court of India is 65 years. Justice NV Ramana retired on Friday.
Justice UU Lalit
Justice UU Lalit was elevated directly to the Supreme Court of India from the Bar in August 2014 – only the sixth lawyer to be so honoured. He started his career as an advocate in June 1983.
He has been a key part of India’s jurisprudential journey in the last couple of decades, initially as a lawyer and then as a judge. He has also been part of several important rulings in the top court, including the Vijay Mallya case. He reportedly headed the bench that last month sentenced Mallya as he was found guilty of contempt of court in 2017. He has also been active in his role as executive chairman of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA).
Justice UU Lalit’s father, U R Lalit, was an additional judge of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court.
Comments
Post a Comment