NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India, UU Lalit, one of the most humble and patient CJIs who addressed every lawyer appearing in his court as Sir and Ma’am irrespective of their seniority, demitted office on Tuesday after a short tenure of 74 days.
Appointed as 49th CJI on August 27, 2022, he was the second CJI to be elevated from bench to the bar and sixth judge to be elevated directly to the Supreme Court. The country’s topmost court, along with lawyers, journalists and common man, under his leadership, had witnessed many “firsts” and “historic and unprecedented moves”.
The SC under his aegis was successful in taking the slice out of the mounting areas by disposing of more than 10,000 matters. With a view to reduce pendency, the top court also disposed of 13,000 matters that were lying in several defects for several years but were being maintained in the files.
On his last day, a bench led by him by upheld the validity of 10% quota granted to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) with a 3:2 majority. But, CJI Lalit was part of the bench that gave a minority view and held the amendment as destroying the “equality code”. As a CJI, bench headed by him, granted interim bail to social activist Teesta Setalvad, set aside HC’s order of accepting pleas seeking ED probe against Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren for alleged money laundering through several shell companies and also granted bail to Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan in the “Hathras Conspiracy case”.
CJI Lalit-led bench also acquitted three men who were given death penalties for gangrape and murder of a 19 year old woman at Chhawla in Delhi in 2012 and paved way for hanging of LeT terrorist by dismissing his pleas seeking review of the SC verdict upholding his death penalty for sensational attack in 2000 Red Fort attack case.
As SC judge, he was part of the bench that had ruled the practice of triple talaq as unconstitutional. Justice Lalit-led bench had also junked NIA’s plea challenging default bail granted to lawyer activist Sudha Bharadwaj in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case by the Bombay HC and also granted relief with regular bail on medical grounds to activist and poet Dr P Varavara Rao, an accused in the same case.
He had also delivered the ruling of the erstwhile royal family of Travancore having management right over the historic Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala, one of the richest shrines. Six constitution benches were set up in the brief period of 74 days when Lalit was at the helm.