E-Paper
Who is Justice Uday Umesh Lalit — 49th Chief Justice of India?
Justice UU Lalit will assume charge on August 27 after incumbent CJI NV Ramana demits office the day before.
Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, who has been part of several landmark judgments including the one which held the practice of divorce through instant 'triple talaq' among Muslims illegal and unconstitutional, was on Wednesday appointed as the 49th Chief Justice of India (CJI). President Droupadi Murmu signed his warrant of appointment.
Justice Lalit will assume charge on August 27 after incumbent NV Ramana demits office the day before. Lalit, 65, will have a short tenure of fewer than three months as he demits office on November 8.
Things to know about Justice Lalit
>Justice Lalit was appointed as judge of the Supreme Court in August 2014 from the bar. He will become the second CJI to be directly elevated to the Supreme Court from the bar, after Justice SM Sikri, who served as the 13th CJI in 1971.
>Justice Lalit has served as a member of Supreme Court Legal Services Committee for two terms.
>Born on November 9, 1957, in Solapur, Maharashtra, Justice Lalit was enrolled as an advocate by the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa in June 1983.
>He practised in the Bombay High Court till December 1985 before shifting his practice to Delhi in January 1986.
>Justice Lalit has to his credit several landmark judgments. He worked in the chambers of Soli J Sorabjee from October 1986 till 1992 and was on the panel of lawyers for Union of India during the period Soli J Sorabjee was Attomey General for India.
>From 1992 till 2002, he practised as an 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 a special public prosecutor for the CBI under the orders of the Supreme Court to conduct trial in all 2G matters.
>One of the path-breaking verdicts was the August 2017 judgment by a five-judge constitution bench which by a 3-2 majority ruled the practice of divorce through instant 'triple talaq' as "void", "illegal" and "unconstitutional".
>While then Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justice S Abdul Nazeer were in favour of putting on hold the judgment for six months and asking the government to come out with a law to that effect, Justices Kurian Joseph, R F Nariman and U U Lalit held the practice as violative of the Constitution.
>Justices Khehar, Joseph and Nariman have since retired.
(With inputs from PTI, PIB)
