Guwahati: Chief Justice of India (CJI) Uday Umesh Lalit will retire and the Central government has asked him to designate his replacement on November 8.
The Minister of Law and Justice has written to the Chief Justice of India requesting his suggestions for the appointment of his successor in accordance with the Memorandum of Procedure of Appointment (MoP) of Chief Justice of India and Supreme Court Judges from last Friday.
Justice Lalit, who was sworn in as the Chief Justice of India on August 27 by President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, would resign in just one month.
He succeeded Justice NV Ramana, who retired on August 26, 2022. As per tradition and seniority rules, Justice Ramana had recommended Justice Lalit as his replacement. Justice Lalit’s appointment as the new Chief Justice of India was later confirmed by the President.
On November 8, Justice Lalit would step down from his position.
Justice DY Chandrachud is anticipated to be named as the 50th Chief Justice of India, following the custom of the Chief Justice selecting the senior-most judge as his or her successor.
At the parting ceremony for Justice Ramana, Justice Lalit stated 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, UU Lalit had pledged to establish a transparent system in which any urgent concerns could be openly brought before the relevant benches of the highest court.
Additionally, he guaranteed that the Supreme Court would have at least one Constitution Bench operating all year long.
Justice Lalit had 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.”
Prior to being appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Lalit was a well-known senior attorney. On August 13, 2014, he was chosen to serve as a Supreme Court justice.
Justice Lalit is the second Chief Justice of India to be promoted directly from the bar to the Supreme Court bench. The first attorney to be promoted directly to the top court bench was Justice SM Sikri, who took over as the 13th Chief Justice of India in January 1971.
His father, UR Lalit was a senior lawyer at the Supreme Court and an additional judge at the Bombay High Court’s Nagpur bench when he was born on November 9, 1957, in Solapur, Maharashtra. After specialising in criminal law and working in the Bombay High Court from 1983 to 1985, UU Lalit enrolled as an advocate in June 1983.
In January 1986, he moved his practise to Delhi bvand 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. On November 8, Justice Lalit will retire, and it is anticipated that Justice DY Chandrachud will be named the 50th Chief Justice of India.