Justice Uday Umesh Lalit on Saturday took oath as the 49th Chief Justice of India. The President of India, Droupadi Murmu, administered the oath. He will have a 74-day tenure till November 8.

Justice UU Lalit will replace Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, 48th Chief Justice of India. During the sworn-in ceremony, he said he would strive hard to make the listing process for fresh cases as effective, simple, quick and transparent as possible.

On the issue of squabbles between lawyers and registry officials, he said that he would look into this and discuss with colleagues to come out with a regime for free mentioning of an urgent matter before concerned benches.

Justice Lalit stated that there would be a permanent five-judge bench in the Supreme Court. It would be constitutionally tasked to interpret the law and decide important constitutional questions. He also promised to expedite a hearing on cases referred to three-judge benches.

Born in 1957, Justice UU Lalit enrolled as an advocate in June 1983. He became a senior advocate in the Supreme Court in 2004. In 2014, He was appointed a judge on the Supreme Court. He was appointed as the special public prosecutor in the 2G spectrum sale scam cases by a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi.