Justice Uday Umesh Lalit has been appointed as the 49th Chief Justice of India, a notification by the Ministry of Law and Justice stated.
Last week, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana recommended the name of Justice Lalit as his successor to the Union Minister for Law and Justice. Justice Ramana is set to demit office on August 26.
Justice Lalit is the senior most judge in the Supreme Court and is the second CJI to be directly elevated to the apex court bench from the Bar.
Justice Lalit will have a short tenure of less than three months as the Chief Justice of India. He will retire on November 8.
Born on November 9, 1957, Justice Lalit became an attorney in June 1983 and practised in the Bombay High Court till December 1985. In January 1986, he relocated to Delhi. From 1986 to 1992, he worked for former Attorney General Soli J Sorabjee. He was appointed a Supreme Court judge in August 2014.
Justice Lalit's landmark hearings included the triple talaq case. He was part of a five-judge bench that, by a 3-2 majority in 2017, ruled that the practice was illegal and unconstitutional.
