Justice U.U. Lalit named as CJI’s Successor

August 5, 2022

On August 4, 2022, Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana recommended the name of Justice Uday Umesh Lalit as his successor. Recommendation was sent to the Union Minister for Law and Justice.

Highlights:

Justice NV Ramana is scheduled to retire from office on August 26, on superannuation. He was the 48^th CJI of India and was appointed on April 24, 2021.
Justice Uday Umesh Lalit is senior-most judge in the Supreme Court. He is in line to become the next CJI.
Justice Lalit was appointed to the SC, directly from the Bar.
Once Justice Lalit is elevated, he will have a short tenure of 2.5 months as the CJI and will retire on November 8, 2022.
Justice Lalit has been part of several landmark judgements including ‘triple talaq’. He was appointed a judge of the SC on August 13, 2014.

Memorandum of Procedure:

As per Memorandum of Procedure, Law Minister asks the outgoing CJI to recommend name of his successor. Usually, the recommendation asked within a month of retirement of the incumbent CJI. In practice, CJI is strictly appointed by seniority. The CJI and other SC judges are appointed by the President of India, as per clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution.

Tenure of CJI:

After appointment, the CJI remains in office till the age of 65 years. Constitution does not provide any fixed tenure for the CJI. However, he can be removed by an order of the President, in accordance with Article 124(4) of Constitution of India.

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