The Chief Justice of India NV Ramana has recommended the name of the senior-most Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Uday Umesh Lalit as the 49th Chief Justice of India. This comes after the Law Ministry yesterday requested Justice Ramana to name his successor.

Chief Justice Ramana will retire on August 26.

According to the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) which governs the process of appointment of Judges in the higher judiciary, the outgoing CJI sets in motion the process of naming his successor after getting a communication from the Ministry of Law and Justice.

As is the convention, the CJI recommends the name of the senior-most Judge as the successor and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit is next in seniority to CJI Ramana.

Justice Ramana, who took over as head of the Indian judiciary from S A Bobde on April 24, 2021, is scheduled to retire on August 26 after completing a tenure of 16 months. If appointed, Justice Lalit, will have a tenure of less than three months as the Chief Justice of India, as he retires on November 8 this year.

Born on November 9, 1957, Justice UU Lalit was enrolled as an Advocate in June, 1983. In 2004 he was designated as Senior Advocate by the Supreme Court and was appointed as Judge of the Apex Court on August 13, 2014.

Justice Lalit has handled various high-profile cases. Before he was recommended to be appointed as a Supreme Court Judge, Justice Lalit conducted the trial in 2G scam case as the Special Public Prosecutor for the CBI.

After the retirement of Justice Lalit, Justice D. Y. Chandrachud would become the Chief Justice of India. Justice Chandrachud will have a long tenure till November, 2024. After his retirement, Justice Sanjiv Khanna is in line to become the Chief Justice, since, by then, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice S. Abdul Nazeer, Justice Indira Banerjee, Justice K.M. Joseph, Justice Hemant Gupta, Justice M.R. Shah, Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari would have retired.

Justice UU LalitChief Justice N V Ramana

Ashish Shaji