Justice Uday Umesh Lalit sworn in as 49th Chief Justice of India

Justice Uday Umesh Lalit took the oath of office as the 49th Chief Justice of India (CJI) on Saturday. He was sworn in by President Droupadi Murmu during a brief ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Following the swearing-in, Justice Lalit signed the register of oath and President Murmu congratulated him.

At the occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, former vice president M Venkaiah Naidu, former president Ram Nath Kovind, and Union ministers, including Kiren Rijiju, were in attendance.

Justice NV Ramana, Justice Lalit's predecessor, was also present at the ceremony. After taking the oath of office, Justice Lalit touched the feet of his parents and a former high court judge, Umesh Ranganath Lalit, who is 90 years old, to ask for their blessings.

As the CJI, Justice Lalit will have a tenure of 74 days and would demit office on November 8 on attaining the age of 65 years. Justice DY Chandrachud, the senior-most judge after Justice Lalit, is next in line to be the chief justice of India.

Speaking at a function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to bid farewell to Justice Ramana on Friday, Justice Lalit said he has always believed that the role of the top court is to lay down law with clarity and the best possible way to do it is to have larger benches as early as possible so that the issues get clarified immediately. "So, we will strive hard to say that yes, we will always have at least one Constitution bench functioning all throughout the year," he said.

During Justice Lalit's tenure as the CJI, several important cases, including Constitution bench matters, are likely to come up for adjudication before the apex court. The top court had recently notified that 25 five-judge Constitution bench matters would be listed from August 29.

Among the important five-judge bench matters which have been listed is a plea challenging the Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019 which provided reservation to Economically Weaker Sections, the challenge to the WhatsApp privacy policy, and the issue of parliamentarians or legislators claiming immunity from criminal prosecution for taking a bribe to give a speech or a vote in the House.