Justice Uday Umesh Lalit was sworn in as the 49th Chief Justice of India on August 27. He will be the sixth head of the Indian judiciary to have a tenure of less than 100 days. Justice Lalit will demit office on November 8 with a tenure of 74 days.
- Supreme Court judges retire on attaining the age of 65 while high court judges retire at 62.
Other CJIs with less than 100 days tenures
- Justice Kamal Narain Singh: The CJI between November 25, 1991 and December 12, 1991, had a tenure of 18 days.
- Justice S Rajendra Babu: He had a tenure of 30 days as the chief justice of India between May 2, 2004 and May 31, 2004.
- Justice J C Shah: He had a tenure of 36 days when he was the CJI between December 17, 1970 and January 21, 1971.
- Justice G B Patnaik: He had a 41-day tenure as the head of the Indian judiciary when he held the office of the CJI from November 8, 2002 to December 18, 2002.
- Justice L M Sharma: He had a tenure of 86 days as the CJI when he was in office between November 18, 1992 and February 11, 1993.
How is the Chief Justice of India appointed?
- The Chief Justice of India and the other judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President under clause (2) of Article 124 of the Indian Constitution.
- As per the Article 124, the CJI is appointed by the President after consultation with judges of the Supreme Court, as the President may “deem necessary”.
- Article 217: While appointing the High Court judges, the President should consult the CJI, Governor, and Chief Justice of the High Court concerned.
- The tenure of a CJI is until they attain the age of 65 years, while High Court judges retire at 62 years.
- Senior most convention: Usually, the seniormost judge of the court after the chief justice (in terms of the years served) is recommended as the successor. This convention was memorably discarded by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who appointed Justice AN Ray as CJI in 1973 over his seniors for a CJI more favourable to her regime.
- According to the government’s Memorandum of procedure for the appointment of Supreme Court Judges, seniority is to be the norm. It says the Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs seeks the recommendation of the outgoing Chief Justice of India for the appointment of the next CJI.
