New mechanism for listing of matters in SC soon: CJI U U Lalit

New Delhi: A new mechanism for the listing of matters will be devised soon, Chief Justice of India U U Lalit said on Monday, his first working day in the Supreme Court as the CJI.

He asked lawyers to mention cases for urgent hearings before the registrar rather than requesting the first court to entertain such pleas.

”We will have a new mechanism by Thursday. Till then, we will look at it in chamber and if urgent we will list it… For mentioning, we will go back to the original practice of mentioning before the registrar,” the CJI said. The observation came after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought to know about the mechanism of mentioning the matters before the bench.

As the bench headed by the chief justice of India commenced proceedings for the day, Mehta welcomed CJI Lalit and assured him of full support from the government. Senior advocate Dushyant Dave also wished the CJI on behalf of the entire bar.

Over 900 petitions, including 60 PILs, were listed before the top court on Monday along with pleas against the Karnataka High Court verdict that wearing hijab by women doesn’t form an essential part of religious practice in Islam. CJI Lalit, who was holding the bench along with Justice S Ravindra Bhat, heard 62 petitions out of which 10 were Public Interest Litigations.

Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, the senior-most judge in the Supreme Court, was sworn in as the 49th Chief Justice of India (CJI) on Saturday.

As CJI, Justice Lalit will have a short tenure of 74 days and demit office on November 8 on attaining the age of 65 years. Justice D Y Chandrachud, the senior-most judge after Justice Lalit, is next in line to be the country’s top judge.

Justice S M Sikri, who became the 13th CJI in January 1971, was the first lawyer to be elevated directly to the top court in March 1964.

Justice Lalit, who was a senior advocate before being appointed a judge of the apex court on August 13, 2014, has been part of several landmark verdicts including the one which held the practice of divorce through instant ‘triple talaq’ among Muslims illegal and unconstitutional.

He was appointed a special public prosecutor for the CBI to conduct the trial in the 2G spectrum allocation case.

Justice Lalit will be the sixth chief justice of India to have a tenure of less than 100 days. Justice Kamal Narain Singh, who was the CJI between November 25, 1991, and December 12, 1991, had a tenure of 18 days.

While Justice S Rajendra Babu had a tenure of 30 days between May 2 and May 31, 2004, Justice J C Shah was the CJI for 36 days between December 17, 1970, and January 21, 1971.

Justice G B Patnaik had a 41-day tenure from November 8 to December 18, 2002, and Justice L M Sharma had a tenure of 86 days between November 18, 1992, and February 11, 1993.