President appoints Justice U.U. Lalit as next Chief Justice of India

New Delhi, Aug 10:  President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday appointed Justice U.U. Lalit as the next Chief Justice of India (CJI) with effect from August 27.

A statement from the Ministry of Law and Justice said: "In exercise of the power conferred by clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution of India, the President has appointed Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, judge of the Supreme Court as the Chief Justice of India. Justice Uday Umesh Lalit will take over as the 49th Chief Justice of India on 27th August 2022". Current Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana will demit office on August 26 on superannuation.

Justice Lalit was appointed as judge of the Supreme Court in August 2014 from the Bar. He will become the second Chief Justice of India to be directly elevated to the Supreme Court from the Bar, after Justice S.M. 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.

Justice Lalit was born on November 9, 1957 at Solapur, Maharashtra. He enrolled as an advocate by the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa in June 1983. He practised in the High Court of Bombay till December 1985 before shifting his practice to Delhi in January 1986.

Justice Lalit worked in the chambers of Soli J. Sorabjee from October 1986 till 1992 and was on the panel of lawyers for the Union of India during the period Sorabjee was Attorney General for India. From 1992 till 2002, he practised as 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 special public prosecutor for CBI under the orders of the Supreme Court to conduct trial in all 2G matters.