New Delhi: Former Chief Justice of India Ramesh Chandra Lahoti has passed away late on Wednesday at a hospital here. The 35th CJI was 81 years old, PTI reported.
Justice Lahoti was born in 1940, joined the Bar in Guna district in 1960 and enrolled as an advocate in 1962. In April 1977, he was recruited directly to the bench from the Bar to the State Higher Judicial Service and later became a district as well as sessions judge.
He served the post for a year but resigned and returned to the Bar to practice, particularly in High Court. In 1988, he was appointed as additional judge in Madhya Pradesh High Court and made permanent there later that year.
In 1994, he was transferred to Delhi High Court and, in 1998, elevated to Supreme Court.
Justice Lahoti had served as an independent director on the board of directors of Press Trust of India. He was an arbitrator for the Rs 20,000 crore high-profile tax dispute case between the Government of India and telecom giant Vodafone.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to the Justice. He tweeted that he was anguished by Lahoti's passing away. Lahoti will be remembered for his contributions to the judiciary and serving speedy justice to the underprivileged, he said. President Ram Nath Kovind said that Lahoti was an eminent jurist who rose from the ground to reach the pinnacle of the Indian judiciary. CJI NV Ramana noted that his death was jolting to the entire legal fraternity will be remembered as a fearless and independent judge. Senior advocate Dushyant Dave and Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju also extended their condolences.