Justice U U Lalit takes oath as 49th Chief Justice of India

Justice Uday Umesh Lalit was on Saturday sworn-in as the 49th Chief Justice of India by the President of India, Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

He will have a short tenure of 74 days, as he would retire on November 8, 2022 at the age of 65.

The brief ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, former President Ramnath Kovind, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, former Chief Justice of India N V Ramana, and sitting and former Supreme Court judges, among other dignitaries.

Justice Lalit was a practising advocate before his elevation to the top court on August 13, 2014.

He is the second CJI, who was appointed directly from the Bar to the Supreme Court as a judge.

Late Justice S M Sikri was the first senior advocate who was appointed as the 13th Chief Justice of India and remained at the chair since January 1971 to April 1973.

Justice Lalit was born on November 9, 1957 at Solapur, Maharashtra. He enrolled as an advocate by the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa in June, 1983. He practised in the High Court of Bombay till December, 1985 before shifting his practice to Delhi in January, 1986.

Justice Lalit worked in the chambers of Soli J Sorabjee from October 1986 till 1992 and was on the panel of lawyers for the Union of India during the period Sorabjee was Attorney General for India. From 1992 till 2002 he practised as advocate-on-record and was designated as senior advocate by the Supreme Court in April 2004. He was also appointed amicus curiae in many important issues, including forest matters, vehicular pollution, pollution of Yamuna etc. He was appointed as special public prosecutor for CBI under the orders of the Supreme Court to conduct trial in all 2G matters.

According to the seniority and the protocol on Justice Lalit's retirement on November 08, this year, the next in line to head the Indian Judiciary would be Dr Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chadrachud. He would remain in office for two years and would retire on November 10, 2024.