Justice U.U. Lalit takes oath as 49th Chief Justice of India

Justice Uday Umesh Lalit took oath as the 49th Chief Justice of India a day after Justice N V Ramana demitted office. President of India Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Justice U U Lalit.

Justice Lalit will have a short tenure of under three months. He will demit office on November 8. He will be the second CJI after Justice Sikri who was directly elevated from the bar to the Supreme Court bench. Justice Sikri was the 13th CJI from January 1971 to April 1973.

The oath taking ceremony was held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, former Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, former President Ram Nath Kovind, Supreme Court Justices D.Y. Chandrachud, S. Abdul Nazeer, M.R. Shah, Dinesh Maheshwari, as well as other apex court judges and dignitaries.


Earlier this month, the Central government had issued a notification appointing Justice Lalit to the top post.

Justice Lalit had on Friday highlighted the three areas, saying he would strive hard to ensure that at least one Constitution bench was functioning in the top court throughout the year.

Justice S M 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.

In his farewell speech for the day, Justice Ramana said the needs of the judiciary were different from those of the rest.

He said unless the bar was willing to extend its whole-hearted cooperation, it would be difficult to bring in necessary changes.

"The juniors who entered the profession look up to the seniors as their role models. I request all the seniors to guide them to be on the right path," he said.

The CJI said Indian judiciary has grown with time and it cannot be defined or judged by one single order or judgement.