CJI Ranjan Gogoi has etched his name in the history books of India
New Delhi, Nov 16: Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, who presided over the Supreme Court bench for the last time on Friday, etched his name in the annals of history this week by giving some of the most important verdicts on politically sensitive issues in recent times - primarily, the Ayodhya land dispute case.
A five-judge bench headed by him on November 9 brought the curtains down on the Ayodhya land dispute, which dates back to even before the Supreme Court came into existence in 1950.
Justice Gogoi is also known for being part of a presser by the 'gang of four' senior-most judges in January last year which questioned the then CJI's way of functioning.
Set to demit office on Sunday, Justice Gogoi's tenure as CJI was not free of controversy as he faced allegations of sexual harassment, of which he was cleared.
Outgoing CJI Ranjan Gogoi has a word of praise for the media
However, he is more likely to be remembered for the Ayodhya verdict that gave Hindus the 2.77 acres disputed land for construction of Ram Temple and ordered that Muslims be given a 5-acre land at a prominent location to build a mosque in the holy city.
The CJI also headed a bench which, by a majority 3:2 verdict, referred to a larger 7-judge bench the pleas seeking review of the 's historic 2018 judgement allowing women and girls of all ages to enter Kerala's Sabarimala temple.
The majority verdict included in the ambit of the review petitions raising issues of alleged religious discrimination against Muslim and Parsi women as well.
Justice Gogoi's name will also be remembered for heading a bench which gave a clean chit to the Modi government twice - first on the writ petition and then on Thursday on the plea seeking review of the December 14, 2018 verdict - in the sensitive Rafale fighter jet deal with the French aviation firm Dassault Aviation.
SCBA felicitates outgoing CJI Ranjan Gogoi in low-key farewell
The bench warned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for wrongly attributing certain remarks to the in the Rafale case to be more careful in future.
Besides,
Justice
Gogoi
headed
a
bench
which
is
a
landmark
verdict
held
that
the
office
of
the
CJI
is
a
public
authority
under
the
Right
to
Information
Act,
but
"judicial
independence
has
to
be
kept
in
mind"
while
disclosing
information
in
"public
interest".
On
the
same
day,
a
five-judge
Constitution
bench
headed
by
him
struck
down
in
entirety
the
rules
formulated
by
the
Centre
on
appointment
and
service
conditions
for
members
of
various
tribunals
and
referred
to
a
larger
bench
the
issue
of
examining
the
validity
of
the
passage
of
the
Finance
Act
2017
as
a
money
bill.
These important decisions apart, Justice Gogoi, known for his no-nonsense approach, boldness and fearlessness, also led a bench which monitored and ensured that NRC exercise in Assam, his native state, is completed within the set timeframe.
A lot of controversies plagued the NRC but he stood his ground and came out in public recently to defend the decision to hold the exercise to identify illegal immigrants.
In Pics: CJI Ranjan Gogoi's farewell at the Supreme Court
As
the
day's
work
began
on
Friday,
he
sat
in
the
Supreme
Court's
number
one
court
for
just
about
four
minutes
during
which
the
's
lawyers
body
expressed
gratitude
to
him.
Later,
a
message
from
the
outgoing
CJI
came
expressing
his
inability
to
have
a
one-to-one
interview
with
scribes
and
lauded
the
press
for
its
"maturity"
and
"character"
in
preventing
"canards
and
falsehood"
in
"trying
times"
of
the
judiciary.
After
that
he
went
to
Raj
Ghat
and
paid
homage
to
Mahatma
Gandhi,
reminding
his
October
3,
2018
visit
to
the
samadhi
of
the
father
of
nation
after
taking
oath
as
the
CJI.
Justice
Gogoi,
who
was
sworn
on
October
3,
2018,
as
the
46th
CJI,
is
the
first
person
from
the
Northeast
to
reach
the
top
position
of
the
judiciary
and
his
tenure
of
a
little
over
13
months
comes
to
ends
on
November
17,
2019.
Since taking up the leadership of Indian judiciary, and also as the judge of the apex before that, Justice Gogoi faced several ups and downs but that did not affect his approach to take on issues head-on.
While Justice Gogoi is known for taking hard and sometimes surprising decisions, the Ayodhya matter reflected both as he not only ensured that arguments were not allowed to be dragged, but wrapped up the hearing two days ahead of the scheduled deadline of October 18, saying 'enough is enough'.
True to his style when speculation was that the Ayodhya verdict will be delivered on the last three working days of his tenure as CJI, he sprang a surprise on November 8 evening by deciding to deliver the judgement on the next day (Saturday) when judges keep themselves away from courtroom cases.
Justice Ranjan Gogoi maintains the precedent of retiring in style with big verdicts
There was a moment of personal controversy when a women staff member of the levelled allegation of sexual harassment against the CJI in which he was given a clean chit by an in-house three-member inquiry committee headed by Justice SA Bobde.
Two women judges -- justices Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee -- were the other members of the committee.
As a judge, he had courted controversy by joining three other senior-most judges of the in holding a press conference on January 12, 2018, in which they virtually revolted against his predecessor Justice Dipak Misra.
He later remarked at a public function that "independent judges and noisy journalists are democracy's first line of defence".
A "revolution, not reform" was needed to keep the institution of judiciary serviceable for the common man, Justice Gogoi had said at the same function.
As the CJI, he took tough decisions against erring judges and recommended their transfers and a woman high court judge was virtually forced to resign.