MEET NEW CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA MR.RANJAN GOGOI

Who is Ranjan Gogoi? Supreme Court judge Ranjan Gogoi was today sworn-in as the 46th Chief Justice of India by President Ramnath Kovind at a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. From being a son of former Assam Chief Minister Kesab Chandra Gogoi to helm the top seat of the country’s judiciary, CJI Gogoi’s journey has been one that many will envy. Gogoi, who is known for his calm demeanour to his colleagues, assumed the office , a day after the retirement of former Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.

Here is all you need to know about Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi

Justice Ranjan Gogoi is the 46th Chief Justice of India. CJI Gogoi will retire on November 17, 2019. He will have a tenure of a little over 13 months. On September 13, the Law Ministry had announced that Gogoi will be appointed as the new CJI. President Ramnath Kovind signed warrants of appointment of Justice Gogoi following which a notification announcing his appointment was issued. Earlier in Septemeber, ex-CJI Dipak Misra had recommended Gogoi’s name for the top post.

Family and education: Chief Justice Gogoi was born in one of the most prominent families in Assam’s Dibrugarh. His father Kesab Chandra Gogoi was briefly appointed as the Chief Minister of the Assam for a period of over two months in 1982 and was a member of the Assam Legislative Assembly from Dibrugarh constituency. His brother Anjan Kumar Gogoi is a retired Air Marshall. Chief Justice Gogoi studied at Don Bosco School in Dibrugarh and pursued higher studies in history at St. Stephen’s College in Delhi. He joined the Bar in 1978.

Career and responsibilities: Chief Justice Gogoi became a professional advocate in 1978. In the Gauhati High Court, CJI Gogoi practised on constitutional, taxation and company matters. On February 28, 2001, he was appointed as a Permanent Judge of the Gauhati High Court. On September 9, 2010, he was transferred to the Punjab & Haryana High Court. Subsequently, on February 12, 2011, Gogoi was elevated as the Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court. On April 23, 2012, a year later, he was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of India.

Controversies: CJI Gogoi was part of an unprecedented controversy that rocked the India judiciary. CJI Gogoi was part of the Supreme Court’s four senior most judges who addressed a first of its kind press conference in January and criticised Justice Misra on an array of issues, including the manner of allocation of cases to certain benches. Justices J Chelameswar (since retired), Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph were the others who addressed the press conference.

Major cases: CJI Gogoi has been involved in some landmark cases through his tenture in the apex court. He along with Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman has been monitoring the National Register of Citizens exercise in Assam. He also became the first judge to issue contempt notice to former Supreme Court Judge. A Contempt notice was served to Justice Markandey Katju in 2016, over “an attack on the judges and not the judgment”. Several other prominent cases handled under his watch are the Aarushi murder and attacks on former Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union leader Kanhaiya Kumar. The other cases include those related to setting up of special courts to exclusively try MPs and MLAs, Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and appointment of anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal among others.