NEW DELHI, Aug 4: Senior-most judge of the Supreme Court Justice U U Lalit, who is in line to become the next Chief Justice of India (CJI), has been part of several landmark judgements including the one which held the practice of divorce through instant ‘triple talaq’ among Muslims illegal and unconstitutional.
If appointed, Justice Lalit will become the second CJI who was directly elevated to the apex court Bench from the Bar.
Justice S M Sikri, who became the 13th CJI in January 1971, was the first lawyer to be elevated directly to the top court bench in March 1964.
Justice Lalit is in line to become the 49th CJI of India on August 27, a day after incumbent Justice N V Ramana demits the office.
Justice Lalit, who was a renowned senior advocate, was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court on August 13, 2014.
He has since been involved in delivery of several landmark judgements of the apex court.
One of the path-breaking verdicts was the August 2017 judgement by a five-judge constitution bench which by a 3-2 majority ruled the practice of divorce through instant ‘triple talaq’ as “void”, “illegal” and “unconstitutional”.
While then Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice S Abdul Nazeer were in favour of putting on hold the judgement for six months and asking the government to come out with a law to that effect, Justices Kurian Joseph, R F Nariman and U U Lalit held the practice as violative of the Constitution.
Justices Khehar, Joseph and Nariman have since retired.
In another important judgement, a bench headed by Justice Lalit had ruled the erstwhile royal family of Travancore has the management right over the historic Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala, one of the richest shrines, holding that the rule of “heritability must get attached to a right of Shebait” (servitor) of the temple.
The bench had allowed the appeal of the legal heirs of Uthradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma, the younger brother of the last ruler, Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, setting aside the Kerala High Court’s 2011 verdict which directed the state government to set up a trust to take control of the management and assets of the temple.
A bench headed by Justice U U Lalit had ruled that touching sexual parts of a child’s body or any act involving physical contact with ‘sexual intent’ amounts to ‘sexual assault’ under section 7 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act as the most important ingredient is sexual intent and not skin-to-skin contact.
Quashing the controversial ‘skin-to-skin’ judgements of the Bombay High Court in two cases under the POCSO Act, the bench had said the high court erred in holding that there was no offence since there was no direct ‘skin-to-skin’ contact with sexual intent.
The high court had held that no offence of sexual assault under the POCSO Act was made out if there was no direct skin-to-skin contact between an accused and victim.
Born on November 9, 1957, Justice Lalit had enrolled as an advocate in June 1983 and practised in the Bombay High Court till December 1985.
He shifted his practice to Delhi in January 1986, and in April 2004, he was designated as a senior advocate by the apex court.
He was appointed a special public prosecutor for the CBI to conduct trial in the 2G spectrum allocation case.
Justice Lalit is due to retire on November 8, 2022.

Despite the extension of licence for one month by the AAP government, most of the liquor traders in the national capital are not willing to place bulk orders, leading to an unprecedented liquor crisis in Delhi.

The liquor traders are afraid that if they place orders in bulk, they will be under pressure to clear the inventory anyhow by the end of this month after their licence expires on August 31.

The capital city is not experiencing the liquor crisis for just premium brands, even the non-premium brands are not available at many outlets.

Meanwhile, a total of six zonal licensees have opted out of the extension and surrendered their licences even as private shops reopened on Tuesday after LG V.K. Saxena’s approval for one month extension. It has resulted in the closure of 126 stores out of the total 468 that were presently operating in the city.

At present, there are no liquor shops open in areas like Greater Kaliash, Daryaganj, Punjabi Bagh, Chittaranjan Park, Paharganj, Sarita Vihar, Anand Vihar and Shakarpur, among others.

The city was divided into 32 zones for the implementation of the new excise policy by the Delhi government. However, 16 zonal licences have been surrendered out of the 32 zones.

On the contrary, bars and restaurants in the city are serving liquor as usual now.

Talking to IANS, Rahul Singh, trustee, National Restaurant Association of India, said the licence extension has come as a relief as at least they can continue to serve liquor.

“The wholesalers are allowed to supply liquor to the retail vends which in turn supply to us. We had the old regime for many years. So whatever the government decides, we can only follow,” said Singh.

However, this dilly-dallying approach with the excise policy has confused the consumers and has also impacted the supply chain management.

“This start-stop-start mode or the short-term extension of a month only disrupts the supply chain. This is causing loss to all the stakeholders, be it the government, the manufacturers, the traders or the consumers,” said Vinod Giri, Director General, Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIABC).

As the centre launched its ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign under the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, various leaders from the Congress party took a jibe at the central government over the campaign by adding former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s picture to their Twitter display picture and said that it was good that the government was recognising the tricolour.

The party’s media in-charge and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh started the trend. Attacking the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh which uses a different flag, Ramesh said,” Sangh people are now adopting the tricolour. We are putting the DP of our leader Nehru with the tricolour in our hand. But the message of the Prime Minister did not reach his family.”

Another senior Congress leader Pramod Tiwari, who changed his DP, took a jibe at the BJP and said, “Where were their ancestors in the freedom struggle? It is good that now they are adopting the tricolour.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that it pains our hearts if some political comments are made at the celebrations related to the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav and the celebrations that are organised across the country around the 75th Independence Day.

“We will also call upon Congress and other political parties and leaders to leave politics and put their efforts so that the country can move forward in a positive way.”

“The ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign is not a political programme. It is a government programme. That’s why today when the Tiranga bike rally took place in Delhi, this call was made by the Minister of State, a ministry of the Government of India. It was given that let’s do tricolour bike rally together in Delhi and its flag-off was done by at the hands of Vice President and Chairman of Rajya Sabha Venkaiah Naidu Ji because it is a politically neutral programme,” he said.

“Politics is happening on this as well. A lot of statements are coming on this. BJP would like to request parties without naming them only with folded hands. Tricolour belongs to everyone and if all MPs participate in it, this animosity will end,” he said.

“It was the Prime Minister’s call to hoist the tricolour in 20 crore homes. For this everyone should have a holy hand and as the PM has said time and again, national policy is above politics. This tricolour is not of any party, but belongs to the nation. The tricolour is to be hoisted in every house. It cannot be the line of any party, but is the line of the new nation.”