Ranjan Gogoi told CNN-News18 that the unprecedented press conference, which he and three other top Supreme Court justices addressed in 2018, did not in any way jeopardize his chances of becoming the Chief Justice of India. The jurist-turned-MLA has also described this episode in his recently released autobiography Justice for the Judge.
On January 12, 2018, Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur, J Chelameswar and Kurian Joseph held a press conference to frame charges against the then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. The judges had termed it as an extraordinary event in the history of the institution and alleged that the administration of the Supreme Court was not in order and unless the institution was protected, democracy would not survive in the country.
“The criteria governing how our Chief Justice is to be appointed are well established by long years of experimentation, example, trial and errors and set forth what lies underground in the book today. Coming Chiefs Judge’s choice, acting or outgoing Chief Justices, except for one reason, which I cannot imagine and, God forbid, this ever comes into existence. The senior-most judge of the Supreme Court to be named as the next Chief Justice. Have to go,” Gogoi told CNN-News18. “If, for any reason, the outgoing Chief Justice thinks otherwise, he will have to consult his senior-most judges. Then it becomes a collective decision. The government, in my mind, has no option but to follow the recommendation of the outgoing CJI. So you have a wonderful system of checks and balances. The outgoing CJI is limited, the government is governed by norms and therefore, I never had any apprehensions about Justice Mishra himself being recommended to replace Justice Dipak Misra. “
Speaking on the allegations of sexual harassment, which he termed as an attempt to jeopardize the functioning of the CJI, Justice Gogoi said it is now a closed chapter for him. A three-member in-house inquiry panel set up by Gogoi, who was then the Chief Justice of India, to probe the allegations against himself, gave him a clean chit on May 6, 2019, saying he did not find any substance in the allegations. imposed by a former Supreme Court employee.
He said, ‘Whatever I have to say, I have said it. If the CJI comes to know that on the basis of the complaint an attempt has been made to file an Article 32 petition to prevent the Chief Justice from acting, what does the Chief Justice do? Does he go and find out who is after him? Or he does something to pre-empt that move and I can tell you that I don’t believe in summation and conjunction and come to my own conclusion. this is not right. It is very difficult to find evidence in such cases. So it is best to discipline your mind not to be misled by feelings, perceptions, rumors or whatever you get to hear.”
Responding to a question about alleged differences with some of the Supreme Court colleagues, Gogoi said he has not made any reference to Justice J Chelameswar and Justice Madan Lokur in his book, as some have indicated.
“What I have said are some people I do not know and I do not want to know are selective in their resentment against me and I am not the only one who finds the blast selective. There is an article in which the correspondent of The Times of India said Found that justified is justified. I did not express any opinion,” he said.
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