Rajendra Mal Lodha

Justice R. M. Lodha (born 28 September 1949) was the 41st Chief Justice of Supreme Court of India. Before being elevated to the Supreme Court of India, Lodha served as the Chief Justice of Patna High Court. He has also served as a judge in Rajasthan High Court and Bombay High Court. On 14 July 2015, the Supreme Court committee headed by RM Lodha suspended the owners of Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings from the Indian Premier League cricket tournament for a period of two years for alleged involvement in betting.

Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha was born to Justice S K Mal Lodha, a former Judge of Rajasthan High Court. He completed BSc and LLB from Jodhpur University.

In February 1973, he got enrolled with the Bar Council of Rajasthan at Jodhpur. He shifted to Jaipur in 1977 on formation of Jaipur Bench of the Rajasthan High Court. He was appointed as Central Government standing counsel at the Rajasthan High Court in 1990. On 31 January 1994, Lodha was elevated as a permanent judge of Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur. On 16 February 1994, he was transferred to Bombay High Court and served till 2007. He assumed office as a judge of Rajasthan High Court on 2 February 2007. On 13 May 2008, he was elevated as the Chief Justice of Patna High Court. On 17 December 2008, Justice Lodha was sworn in as a judge of the Supreme Court of India.

Lodha was appointed as the Chief Justice of India succeeding P Sathasivam on 11 April and assumed charge on 27 April 2014. Justice Lodha said that infusing greater transparency in the appointment of judges and initiating steps to bring down the staggering backlog of 3.3 crore cases will be among his priorities. He retired on 27 September 2014 and was succeeded by H L Dattu.

List of other positions held by him are :

• Chairman, State Judicial Academy, Rajasthan
• Executive Chairman, National Legal Services Authority
• Chairman, General Council, Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar
• President, Supreme Court Middle Income Group Legal Aid Society
• Chairperson, Advisery Committee, National Court Management Systems
• Chancellor, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru
• Chancellor, West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata
• Chancellor, Chanakya National Law University, Patna

“I always had a firm view that there should be a dedicated bench devoted to complex legal issues. After all what’s a Supreme Court without a constitution bench? This is a good initiative,”_{—SC to clear pending constitutional cases}

"The illegal betting syndicates are largely operated by mafias and the underworld which results in a lot of black money being floated. By legalising betting in sports, the government will be able to put an end to the activities of the illegal betting syndicates who use this money to fund social evils." _{—The Lodha committee's suggestion}