Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana on Wednesday received a communication from Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju seeking his recommendation on the appointment of the next top judge.
Chief Justice Ramana is retiring on August 26, 2022.
The communication from the Law Minister was received at 9.30 pm on August 3. “Today (03.08.2022) at 2130 hrs., the Secretariat of the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India has received a communication dated 03.08.2022 from Hon’ble Minister of Law and Justice requesting Hon’ble CJI to recommend the name of his successor,” it was informed from the Supreme Court on Thursday.
It is now left to Chief Justice Ramana to give the Law Minister his recommendation on his successor. Justice U.U. Lalit is the senior-most judge in the Supreme Court now. Justice Lalit is in line to be appointed the 49th CJI as per the seniority norm. The ‘Memorandum of Procedure of Appointment of Supreme Court Judges’ says “appointment to the office of the Chief Justice of India should be of the seniormost Judge of the Supreme Court considered fit to hold the office”. The process, according to the Memorandum, begins with the Union Law Minister seeking the recommendation of the outgoing CJI about the next appointment. The Minister has to seek the CJI’s recommendation “at the appropriate time”. The Memorandum does not elaborate or specify a timeline. However, if past changes of guard at the top judge post were to be seen, the Law Minister had sought the recommendation and the outgoing CJI had sent his reply with a month to spare for the latter’s retirement day. The Memorandum says that “after receipt of the recommendation of the Chief Justice of India, the Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs will put up the recommendation to the Prime Minister who will advise the President in the matter of appointment”. Justice Lalit, if appointed, would have a tenure of hardly three months. He retires on November 8, 2022.
