Outgoing CJI Ramana recommends Justice Lalit as successor

Outgoing Chief Justice of India N V Ramana on Thursday recommended the name of senior most judge, Justice U U Lalit as his successor, paving the way for a direct appointee from the Bar to become the head of judiciary after 49 years.

Justice Lalit, who is the senior most judge in the Supreme Court would be the 49 th CJI, if the recommendation is accepted by the Union government.

Justice Lalit, who was elevated to the top court directly from the Bar on August 13, 2014, would be having a short tenure of less than three months as the CJI since he would retire on November 8 at the age of 65.

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He will be the second CJI, after late Justice S M Sikri, who was appointed directly from the Bar to the Supreme Court as a judge. Late Justice Sikri was the 13th Chief Justice of India since January 1971 to April 1973.

On a request received from Law Minister Kiran Rijiju, Justice Ramana forwarded the name of Justice Lalit. He also handed over the copy of the letter of recommendation personally to Justice Lalit this morning in the Supreme Court.

The incumbent CJI is set to demit office on August 26 on superannuation.

On Wednesday, the Secretariat of the Chief Justice of India has received a communication from Minister of Law and Justice requesting the CJI to recommend the name of his successor.

According to the Memorandum of Procedure, the Law Minister seeks recommendation from the outgoing CJI on his successor, normally within a month of the retirement of incumbent CJI.

Born in 1957, Justice Lalit enrolled as an advocate in 1983 and practised before the Bombay High Court since 1983 till December 1985. He was designated as a senior advocate by the Supreme Court in April, 2004.

During his stint as lawyer, he was appointed as the Special Public Prosecutor by the top court for the CBI to conduct trials in all the 2G spectrum scam cases.

Justice Lalit had also worked with former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee between 1986 and 1992.

He primarily specialised in criminal law.

Justice Lalit was a part of a five-judge Constitution bench which declared practice of triple talaq as unconstitutional. In Pradyuman Bisht case, Justice Lalit along with Justice Adarsh Goel (since retired) had directed that CCTV cameras (without audio recordings) be installed inside courts, and in important locations in the court complex.

Justice Lalit was also on the two-judge bench which held that the prescribed 6 month waiting period under Section 13B(2) of the Hindu Marriage Act, for divorce by mutual consent, is not mandatory.

Recently, Justice Lalit, presiding over a bench, sentenced fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya to four months of imprisonment along with fine of Rs 2,000 for contempt of court.

Justice Lalit favours court proceedings to start early as he suggested that the Supreme Court benches should start at 9 am and rise at 11.30am for a half-hour break. Again, the court proceedings should begin at 12 noon and finish by 2 pm.

During his tenure as a judge, Justice Lalit had recused from hearing a number of cases, including Ayodhya Title Dispute, Mumbai blast case convict, Yakub Menon's review petition challenging his death penalty, Om Prakash Chautala's plea in teacher recruitment scam, and the appeals in the Suryanelli rape case.