All About The New Chief Justice Of India Justice Uday Umesh Lalit

 Justice Uday Umesh Lalit has been named the 49th Chief Justice of India. His appointment was confirmed after President Droupadi Murmu signed a warrant for the same on August 10.

"In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, judge of the Supreme Court, to be the Chief Justice of India with effect from 27 August 2022," a law ministry notification stated. Justice Lalit will assume office a day after current CJI NV Ramana leaves the office on August 26.

However, his tenure as the CJI will last for less than three months as Justice Lalit will step down on November 8 of this year. This is due to the fact that Supreme Court justices retire at the age of 65.

Who Is Justice UU Lalit?

Justice Lalit, who was born on November 9, 1957, registered as an advocate in June 1983 and worked at the Bombay High Court till December 1985. However, in January 1986, he shifted base to Delhi. It was in the years April 2004 that the Supreme Court named him as a senior advocate.

He is only the second CJI to be promoted directly to the Supreme Court bench from the Bar.

Here are some of the important verdicts given by Justice UU Lalit during his career:

Triple Talaq: In August 2017, a five-judge Supreme Court bench, including Justice UU Lalit, pronounced the practice of triple talaq as a "void", "illegal" and "unconstitutional". The pathbreaking judgement was passed by a vote of 3-2.

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POCSO: Justice Lalit was also part of the bench which ruled that touching sexual parts of a child's body or any act which involves physical contact with a child, with 'sexual intent' amounts to sexual assault under section 7 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. The verdict had shifted the focus in POCSO cases to sexual intent from not skin-to-skin contact.

2G Spectrum: Justice UU Lalit served as a special public prosecutor for the Central Bureau of Investigation during the trial in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case.