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Chief Justice of India N V Ramana addresses the fifth convocation of Hidayatullah National Law University, in Raipur, July 31, 2022. (PTI)Beginning the process of appointment of the next Chief Justice of India, the Law Ministry has sought the views of the incumbent CJI N V Ramana, The Indian Express has learnt. Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju wrote to CJI Ramana on July 25, asking him to recommend his successor. Sources said that the CJI, who is due to retire on August 26, is yet to respond.
According to the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP), the document which governs the process for appointment of judges, the law minister asks the outgoing CJI to recommend his successor. The MoP states that the CJI should be “the senior-most Judge of the Supreme Court considered fit to hold the office”.
While the MoP says the outgoing CJI’s views must be sought “at the appropriate time” but does not specify a timeline for the process, it usually takes place a month before the retirement of the incumbent CJI. The law minister then places the views of the CJI before the Prime Minister, who advises the President on the appointment.
“Whenever there is any doubt about the fitness of the senior-most Judge to hold the office of the Chief Justice of India, consultation with other Judges… would be made for appointment of the next Chief Justice of India,” the document states.
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As the most senior judge of the Supreme Court after the current CJI retires, Justice Uday Umesh Lalit is next in line to be appointed to the top post. If appointed, he will have a tenure of three months, as he is set to retire on November 8 this year. The next most senior judge after Justice Lalit is Justice D Y Chandrachud.
If his appointment is cleared, Justice Lalit will be only the second CJI, after former CJI S M Sikri, to be appointed directly from the Bar. Justice Sikri was CJI from January 1971 to April 1973.
Born in 1957, Justice Lalit enrolled as an advocate before the Bombay High Court in 1983. Before being appointed a Judge of the SC in 2014, he appeared as the Special Public Prosecutor for the Central Bureau of Investigation in the 2G trial.
After CJI Ramana’s retirement, the Supreme Court will have 30 judges, against a sanctioned strength of 34 judges.
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First published on: 01-08-2022 at 09:41:28 pm