Meet new SC judge Uday Lalit: Amit Shah's lawyer, CBI prosecutor in 2G case

Senior advocate Uday U Lalit, who famously represented Amit Shah in the Tulsi Prajapati encounter case, has now been appointed as a judge in the Supreme Court. Bar and Bench reports, “He gave his consent a few days back and is now scheduled to meet CJI RM Lodha on June 29, according to reliable sources.” NDTV has reported that  “a Supreme Court panel led by the Chief Justice of India has recommended Mr Lalit’s name, along with three others”. The list will go to the Law Ministry, the PM and finally, President Pranab Mukherjee. Lalit represented Shah in the fake encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati in Gujarat. A report on Zee News adds that Uday Lalit was also a special prosecutor in the 2G spectrum allocation case. [caption id=“attachment_1614701” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Uday Lalit. Image courtesy: IBN Live.[/caption] Lalit’s appointment comes after the Modi government rejected the name of former advocate general Gopal Subramaniam as a Supreme Court judge from the list of four candidates who were nominated. The rejection was based on the CBI report on Subramaniam which said that he had privately met the lawyer for A Raja during the 2G case, a charge that was denied by the former advocate general. Bar and Bench reports that Lalit’s appointment comes as a replacement for Subramaniam. Given that Amit Shah is known to be a close aide of Narendra Modi, Lalit’s appointment will obviously raise some eyebrows. Incidentally, Amit Shah has also just been elevated to the post of BJP’s president. Interestingly, as this DNA report notes, Lalit has been associated with a slew of high profile cases. He represented the government, opposing Dr Binayak Sen’s bail plea when he was held on sedition charges. He has represented Punjab CM Amarinder Singh in a corruption case, Navjot Singh Sidhu in a culpabe homicide case. The Hindu reports, “Mr. Lalit, who hails from Maharashtra, joined the Bar in June 1983 and has been practising in the apex court since 1986. He worked with the former Attorney-General, Soli J. Sorabjee, from 1986 to 1992. He has appeared in a number of leading criminal cases including the one against Hasan Ali Khan, the Pune businessman accused of money laundering.”