INDIA: Justice Uday Umesh Lalit has been appointed as the 49th Chief Justice of India on Wednesday after President Droupadi Murmu signed his appointment order.
He will take charge on August 27 after the incumbent N V Ramana assumes office a day before.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by Clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Justice Shri Uday Umesh Lalit, Judge of the Supreme Court, as the Chief Justice of India with effect from August 27, 2022,” the Law Ministry said in a notification.
Justice Lalit will have a short tenure of less than three months. He will be 65 on November 8 when he steps down.
On 3 August 2022, the Secretariat of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana received a communication from Union Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijija asking him to recommend the name of his successor.
The very next day, CJI Ramana wrote to the Union government recommending Justice Lalit, the second-most senior judge of the Supreme Court, as the next Chief Justice of India, as per the convention. CJI Ramana will leave office on August 26, 2022.
Justice Lalit is the second CJI to be elevated to the Supreme Court directly from the Bar. The first was Justice S M Sikri, who became the 13th CJI in in January 1971.
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