Justice UU Lalit Sworn in as 49th CJI

Justice Uday Umesh Lalit has taken oath as the 49^th Chief Justice of India on Saturday. President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office of Justice Lalit at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

CJI Lalit succeeded Justice NV Ramana who retired on August 26.

Justice Lalit has promised to ensure a clear-cut regime where any urgent matters can freely be mentioned before the respective benches of the top court.

He assured that there will be at least one Constitution Bench functioning throughout the year in the Supreme Court.

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Justice Lalit said, "I have always believed that the role of the Supreme Court is to lay down law with clarity, consistency, and the best possible way to do it is to have larger benches as early as possible, wherever the matters are referred to such benches so that the issues get clarified immediately, the matter has consistency and the people are well aware of what exactly are the contours of the peculiar positions in law,” ANI reported.

The outgoing CJI Ramana on his last working day apologised for not being able to list all the pending matters and said the court has been firefighting pendency, which rose alarmingly during the pandemic months.

Justice Lalit was a renowned senior advocate before he became the judge of the apex court. He was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court on August 13, 2014.
Justice Lalit will be the second CJI who was directly elevated to the Supreme Court bench from the Bar. Justice SM Sikri, who became the 13th CJI in January 1971, was the first lawyer to be elevated directly to the top court bench in March 1964.

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