49th Chief Justice of Republic of India: Hon'ble Mr Justice Uday Umesh Lalit
The 49th
Chief Justice of India Hon’ble Mr. Justice U.U. Lalit has taken oath today at
the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi. Yesterday at the farewell function of
Outgoing CJI Justice Lalit said that My three goals are important as a CJI for
next 74 days. The three areas are Listing of Cases, Urgent Mentioning,
Constitution Benches.
Justice U.U. Lalit Born
on November 9, 1957. Enrolled as an
Advocate in June, 1983. Practised in the High Court of Bombay till December,
1985. His Lordship Shifted his practice
to Delhi in January, 1986.
Justice Lalit was Designated
as Senior Advocate by the Supreme Court in April, 2004. Appeared as Amicus Curiae in many
matters. Appointed Special Public
Prosecutor for CBI to conduct trial in all 2G matters under the orders of the
Supreme Court. Member of Supreme Court
of India Legal Services Committee for two terms.
Justice Lalit has well
known for his Chairmanship of NALSA. The programs to release all the undertrial
prisoners and its implementations is the recent example of Justice Lalit
Tenure. He is the sixth person who directly appointed as Judge of the Apex
Court from the Advocate.
As an apex court judge,
Justice Lalit was part of a five-judge bench in the year 2017 triple talaq
cases which ruled the practice as ‘illegal’ and ‘unconstitutional’. He had
earlier recused himself from the Ram Mandir case by saying that he appeared for
Former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh in Babri Demolition case.
I quote former PM Dr.
Singh “Judiciary must be encouraged to find ways and means to regulate its own
affairs - consistent with the spirit of the Constitution.” 74 days as CJI
Justice Lalit can look on the side of pendency of the court, and the matter
related to administration Filing, listing & Constitutional Bench matters as
well.
The appointment of
judges is one of the important part where CJI role is very very important than
other. The appointment preserve and defend the Independence of Judiciary at
all. The popular Government with its overwhelming majority at centre and
Collegium may entered into a tug of war when the former one is not clearing the
name of the Collegium.
As the head of this
institution the faith of public must not be shaken at any cost. The CJI will
come and go but when the stake of the Institution are at challenge then one
should have to preserve its dignity. The Supreme Court is last hope and resort
for millions of people. The pendency must be reduced at such level the one can
easily access and get the remedy by the court.
The Indian Judiciary is
having a good history of standing with the public in all the aspects and as
head of the Judiciary the Supreme Court and as Head of the Supreme Court the
Chief Justice of India must have dialogue with different stakeholders to
observe the problem at different levels.
I wish Hon’ble Justice
Lalit All the Best and a fruitful tenure as the Chief Justice of India.