Justice U U Lalit 'bows out' after 74-day brief tenure

Outgoing Chief Justice of India U U Lalit on Tuesday ended his brief tenure of 74 days, leaving an indelible mark in the annals of the top court's history with several key judgments and other reforms, including live streaming of Constitution bench hearings.

On the last day in office, though court holiday, Justice Lalit came to the top court, interacted informally with the staff and finally bowed before the court precincts to end his 37-year-long innings both as an advocate and the judge. November 8 was his last day in office.

On Monday, a five-judge bench headed by him by a majority view of 3:2 declared the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act on 10% EWS quota as constitutional.

On the administrative side, he ordered live streaming of constitution bench cases from September 27, which included the petitions challenging the reservation for the economically weaker sections, petitions challenging demonetization, etc.

On November 3, a bench led by Justice Lalit affirmed the death penalty for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Mohammad Arif alias Ashfaq for carrying out the December 2000 Red Fort attack, saying there was a direct attack on the unity, integrity and sovereignty of India.

He also headed a bench that granted bails to activist Teesta Setalvad, arrested for allegedly fabricating evidence in the 2002 Gujarat riots cases, and Siddique Kappan, a Kerala-based journalist.

Born on November 9, 1957, Justice Lalit was the second head of the judiciary to be directly elevated to the top court bench from the Bar. On August 13, 2014, Justice Lalit was appointed judge of the Supreme Court and was sworn in as the 49th CJI on August 27, 2022.

However, Justice Lalit could not fill up the four vacancies of judges in the Supreme Court, as his successor Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice S A Nazeer objected to the procedure adopted, particularly by selection through circulation.

Currently, the Supreme Court has 28 judges against the sanctioned strength of 34.

Justice Lalit was criticised for setting up a bench to take up on Saturday, a court holiday, an urgent plea by the Maharashtra government against discharge by Delhi University professor G N Saibaba in a case of having Maoists link.