Next Chief Justice of India, Justice UU Lalit lists 3 priorities for his 74-day CJI tenure

Chief Justice of India-designate Uday Umesh Lalit, who is all set to assume charge on August 27, made three major announcements on Friday regarding the reforms he will try to bring in during his short 74-days tenure as the next CJI. While, speaking at the farewell function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association for the outgoing CJI NV Ramana, Justice Lalit announced the three main areas that he is going to prioritise during his tenure as 49th Chief Justice of India. 

A day ahead of taking over as the next CJI, the Chief Justice of India-designate listed the three areas for his innings as the next CJI. He said that during his 74-days-long tenure, he is going to focus on bringing more transparency to the listing system, a system for freely mentioning urgent matters before respective benches, and one Constitution Bench functioning throughout the year. 

"Let me place some parts I intend to do in my next innings of 74 days. We'll strive hard to make listing as simple, clear and transparent as possible. A clear-cut regime will be made where any urgent matters can be freely mentioned before respective courts," Justice Lalit as saying.

Mentioning his third area of focus, he added, "Listing of matters before the Constitution benches and matters which are specially referred to benches of three judges...we will strive hard to say that yes we will always have at least one Constitution Bench functioning all throughout the year."

Justice Lalit's 3 priorities as CJI

Elaborating on his priorities and focus points ahead of his tenure as the Chief justice of India, he said that taking a cue from CJI Ramana, it is important for us to strive hard to make the process of listing in the top court as clear and transparent as possible. We must focus on bringing more transparency in the listing system.

Another area that needs our immediate attention is the mentioning of urgent matters before the respective benches. Further, during his address at the farewell function, he assured that he will make sure that at least one Constitution Bench functions throughout the year in the Supreme Court.

Justice Lalit to succeed NV Ramana on August 27

Justice Lalit will assume charge as the next Chief Justice of India on August 27 as CJI Ramana retired on Friday, August 26. Notably, Justice UU Lalit will serve the country for a short period of just 74 days as he will retire on November 8. According to the reports, after Justice Lait's retirement, Justice DY Chandrachud will be named the 50th Chief Justice of India.

Earlier, on August 4, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana wrote to the central government recommending the name of Justice UU Lalit, the second-most senior judge of the Supreme Court, as the next Chief Justice of the country.