Justice Lalit only second judge to become CJI after being elevated from the Bar

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New
Delhi,
Aug
27:
Justice
U
U
Lalit
was
today,
August
27
sworn
in
as
the
49th
Chief
Justice
of
India.
He
was
administered
the
oath
of
office
by
President
of
India
Draupadi
Murmu.

Justice
Lalit
is
the
only
judge
after
Justice
S
M
Sikri
to
be
elevated
from
the
Bar
who
goes
on
to
become
the
CJI.
Justice
Lalit
was
appointed
judge
of
the
Supreme
Court
in
August
2014.

Justice
Sikri
was
the
CJI
between
1971
and
1973.

Justice
Uday
Umesh
Lalit
was
born
on
November
9
1957.
He
would
be
serving
as
the
49th
CJI
for
a
period
of
seventy
four
days.

Justice
Lalit
was
born
into
the
family
of
U
R
Lalit,
a
former
additional
judge
of
the
Bombay
High
Court,
Nagpur
Bench.
Prior
to
his
elevation
he
was
practicing
as
a
senior
counsel
in
the
Supreme
Court
since
1986.

Listing
of
cases,
urgent
mentioning,
Constitution
benches:
3
areas
Justice
UU
Lalit
will
focus
as
CJI

A
bench
headed
by
Justice
U
U
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.

Quashing
the
controversial
‘skin-to-skin’
judgements
of
the
Bombay
High
Court
in
two
cases
under
the
POCSO
Act,
the
bench
had
said
the
high
court
erred
in
holding
that
there
was
no
offence
since
there
was
no
direct
‘skin-to-skin’
contact
with
sexual
intent.

The
high
court
had
held
that
no
offence
of
sexual
assault
under
the
POCSO
Act
was
made
out
if
there
was
no
direct
skin-to-skin
contact
between
an
accused
and
victim.

Born
on
November
9,
1957,
Justice
Lalit
had
enrolled
as
an
advocate
in
June
1983
and
practised
in
the
Bombay
High
Court
till
December
1985.

He
shifted
his
practice
to
Delhi
in
January
1986,
and
in
April
2004,
he
was
designated
as
a
senior
advocate
by
the
apex
court.

He
was
appointed
a
special
public
prosecutor
for
the
CBI
to
conduct
trial
in
the
2G
spectrum
allocation
case.
Justice
Lalit
is
due
to
retire
on
November
8,
2022.