Justice U.U. Lalit sworn-in as 49th Chief Justice of India

New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday administered the oath of office to Justice U.U. Lalit as the 49th Chief Justice of India (CJI).

The oath taking ceremony was held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, 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, as well as other apex court judges and dignitaries.

Earlier this month, the Central government had issued a notification appointing Justice Lalit to the top post, following a recommendation made by former CJI Ramana, who demitted office on August 26.

On August 13, 2014, Justice Lalit was elevated to the apex court directly from the Bar. He will however, have a short tenure as Chief Justice. He is only set to hold the post for 74 days before he retires on November 8.

Under India’s constitution, Supreme Court justices are required to retire aged 65 years. The chief justice is appointed by the president according to seniority.

After late Justice S.M. Sikri, who was appointed directly from the Bar to the apex court as a judge, Justice Lalit will be the second CJI, being directly appointed from the Bar.

Justice Sikri was the 13th CJI from January 1971 to April 1973.

Justice Lalit, who specialises in criminal law, was designated as a senior advocate by the Supreme Court in April 2004. He was appointed as the special public prosecutor by the top court for the CBI in all the 2G spectrum scam cases. He also worked with late Attorney General Soli Sorabjee between 1986 and 1992.

In July, during a hearing on a matter, Justice Lalit remarked that if children can go to school at 7 a.m. everyday in the morning, then why can’t judges and lawyers come to court at 9 a.m. “Ideally, we should sit at 9 in the morning. I have always said that if our children can go to school at 7 in the morning, why can’t we come to court at 9?”

The bench also comprising Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia then began hearing cases at 9.30 a.m.

A bench headed by Justice Lalit sentenced fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya to four months of imprisonment along with fine of Rs 2,000 for contempt of court.

He was a part of a five-judge Constitution bench which declared the practice of triple talaq as unconstitutional.