Chief Justice of India NV Ramana has named Justice Uday Umesh Lalit as his successor to the top post. Ramana is set to retire on August 26.
When appointed, Justice UU Lalit, 64, the Supreme Court's second senior-most judge, will have a brief tenure because he is also retiring in November. He will be succeeded by Justice DY Chandrachud.
Lalit will be second judge elevated directly from the bar to become chief justice of india. Justice SM Sikri was the first.
Maharashtra-born Lalit began his legal career in 1983. He practised in the Bombay High Court till 1985 and moved to Delhi in 1986.
In 2004, he became a senior Supreme Court advocate. Having experience in criminal law, he handled many high-profile cases. He has represented Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter case.
Lalit has also served as the special public prosecutor in the 2G scam case.
He was appointed a Supreme Court judge in August 2014.
As an apex court judge, Lalit's landmark hearings include the "triple talaq" case. He was part of a five-judge bench that by a 3-2 majority in 2017 ruled that the practice was "illegal" and "unconstitutional".
He recused himself from the Ayodhya hearing because he had appeared for former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh in a case related to the Babri Masjid demolition.
Last year, a bench led by Lalit had reversed the Bombay High Court's controversial "skin to skin" ruling.
The High Court had held that “skin-to-skin contact” between an accused person and a child was required to make a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. The Supreme Court had said the judgement would set a dangerous precedent.
In July this year, a bench comprising Justice UU Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat and PS Narasimha had sentenced fugitive tycoon Vijay Mallya to four month jail in contempt of court case. Mallya was held guilty of contempt for disbursing $40 million to his family members in violation of the court orders.
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