India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, MARCH 18— Former Chief Justice of India Justice Ranjan Gogoi has invited strong criticism by accepting the Rajya Sabha seat offered by the BJP-led central government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Justice Gogoi retired as the Chief Justice of Supreme Court in November last year leaving behind several verdicts – like Ayodhya, Sabarimala and Rafale — for which he faced criticism from opposition and civil society. Earlier this week, the President of India Ram Nath Kovind announced Gogoi’s name as nominated Member of Rajya Sabha.
Besides the Opposition parties and civil society groups, Justice Gogoi’s former colleague judges have also denounced his decision to accept the offer.
“We have discharged our debt to the nation” was the statement made by Justice Ranjan Gogoi along with the three of us on 12th January 2018. I am surprised as to how Justice Ranjan Gogoi who once exhibited such courage of conviction to uphold the independence of judiciary, has compromised the noble principles on the independence and impartiality of the Judiciary,” former Judge of Supreme Court Justice Kurian Joseph was quoted as saying by LiveLaw.in.
Justices Ranjan Gogoi, J Chelameswar, Kurian Joseph and Madan Lokur had conducted an unprecedented press conference in January 2018 against then Chief Justice Dipak Misra alleging arbitrary allocation of important cases to some specific benches.
Justice Joseph further said: “Our great nation continues to be firmly grounded on the basic structures and Constitutional values, thanks mainly to the independent judiciary. The moment this confidence of the people is shaken, the moment there is a perception that a section among Judges are otherwise biased or looking forward, the tectonic alignment of the nation built on solid foundations is shaken. Only to strengthen this alignment, the collegium system was introduced by the Supreme Court in 1993 to make the judiciary completely independent and not interdependent.”
Has the Last Bastion Fallen, Asks Justice Lokur
Justice Madan B Lokur has also raised question on Gogoi’s acceptance of the Rajya Sabha seat.
“There has been speculation for sometime now about what honorific would Justice Gogoi get. So, in that sense the nomination is not surprising, but what is surprising is that it came so soon. This redefines the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary. Has the last bastion fallen?”, Justice Lokur was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
Meanwhile, in his first reaction to the offer, Justice Gogoi has said that he would speak in detail about why he accepted the offer only after taking oath.
