CJI NV Ramana recommends Justice UU Lalit's name to Centre as the 49th Chief Justice of India

New Delhi: Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, on Thursday, sets in motion the process of appointment of his successor and recommended the name of Justice Uday Umesh Lalit to the Centre. CJI Ramana is retiring this month. CJI Ramana personally handed over the copy of his letter of recommendation to Justice Lalit, the most senior judge. Justice Ramana, the 48th chief justice of India, took over as head of the Indian judiciary from SA Bobde on 24 April, 2021. Justice Lalit is in line to become the 49th CJI on 27 August, a day after incumbent CJI NV Ramana demits the office. Interestingly, Justice Lalit’s tenure as the Chief Justice of India will be less than three months as he retires on 8 November this year. It is worth mentioning that if Justice Lalit is appointed as the CJI, he would be the second in the post to be directly elevated to the Supreme Court Bench from the Bar. Justice SM Sikri, the 13th CJI, was the first lawyer to be elevated directly to the apex court bench. Who is Justice UU Lalit? Justice UU Lalit is a renowned senior advocate who was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court on 13 August, 2014. He has been part of several landmark judgements. He was part of a five-judge constitution bench that delivered the path-breaking instant ’triple talaq’ verdict in August 2017. By a 3-2 majority, the bench ruled the practice of divorce through instant ’triple talaq’ as “void”, “illegal” and “unconstitutional”. Another important judgement by Justice Lalit headed bench includes ruling the erstwhile royal family of Travancore has the management right over the historic Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala, one of the richest shrines, holding that the rule of “heritability must get attached to a right of Shebait” (servitor) of the temple. The judicial body had allowed the appeal of the legal heirs of Uthradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma, the younger brother of the last ruler, Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma and set aside the Kerala High Court’s 2011 verdict that directed the state government to establish a trust to take control of the management and assets of the temple. In another case, a bench headed by Justice Lalit had ruled that touching sexual parts of a child’s body or any act involving physical contact with ‘sexual intent’ amounts to ‘sexual assault’ under section 7 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act as the most important ingredient is sexual intent and not skin-to-skin contact. The court rejected the controversial ‘skin-to-skin’ judgements of the Bombay High Court in two cases under the POCSO Act. The high court had ruled that no offence of sexual assault under POCSO Act was made out if there was no direct skin-to-skin contact between an accused and victim. Quashing the Bombay HC’s ruling, the Justice Lalit bench had said that the high court erred in holding that there was no offence since there was no direct ‘skin-to-skin’ contact with sexual intent. Justice Lalit had enrolled as an advocate in June 1983 and till December 1985, he practised in the Bombay High Court. In January 1986, he shifted his practice to Delhi in and in April 2004, he was designated as a senior advocate by the Supreme Court of India. He was appointed a special public prosecutor for the CBI to conduct trial in the 2G spectrum allocation case. With inputs from PTI Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.