New Delhi, Aug 27 : President Droupadi Murmu took the swearing of the office of Justice U.U.Lalit as the 49th Chief of Justice of India (CJI) with effective from August 27 2022.The oath-taking ceremony was held at Rashtrapati Bhavan and was attended by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju Former Chief Justice of India N.V.Ramana Former President Ram Nath Kovind, Supreme Court Justices D.Y.Chandrachud, S.Abdul Nazeer, M.R.Shah, Dinesh Maheshwari, along with other judges of the apex court and dignitaries.
In the last month in August, the Central government issued a notice appointing Justice Lalit to the top post in response to a recommendation made by the former CJI Ramana who left office on the 26th of August.
On August 13 2014, Justice Lalit was elevated to the apex court straight from the Bar.He will, however, serve a only a brief term of being the Chief Justice, as he is scheduled to retire on the 8th of November.
After late Justice S.M.Sikri who was appointed direct from the Bar to the Apex court as a judge Justice Lalit will be the second CJI directly appointed by the Bar.
Justice Sikri was the 13th CJI from January 1971 until April 1973.
Justice Lalit, who specialises in criminal law, was named an advocate senior by the Supreme Court in April 2004.He was appointed the public prosecutor special by the most prestigious court of the CBI in all 2G spectrum fraud cases.
He was also a co-worker with the late Attorney General Soli Sorabjee between 1986 and 1992.
In July, in an inquiry into a matter, Justice Lalit remarked that children could be in school until 7 a.m.every day in the morning, why shouldn’t lawyers and judges be in the courtroom at 9 a.m.”Ideally we should be sitting at 9 in the morning.I’ve always believed that if our kids can start school at 7 in the morning, then why do we have to go to the courtroom at 9?”
The bench, which also included Justices S.Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia, then began to hear cases at 9.30 a.m.
A court headed by Justice Lalit sentenced fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya to four months of prison time along with fine of Rs 22,000 for infraction of the court.
He was a member of the five-judge Constitution bench that condemned the use of triple talaq as unlawful.
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