President Ramnath Kovind has nominated Former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi to Rajya Sabha. Congress criticized the move and said that it might affect the reputation of the judiciary.
Crux of the Matter
Ranjan Gogoi served as the Chief Justice of India from October 3rd, 2018 to November 17th, 2019. After nearly 5 months of his retirement, in an unprecedented move, he has been nominated to be a member of the Upper House of the Parliament. The opposition was of the opinion that the move would jeopardize the ‘impartiality’ of the judiciary. Yashwant Sinha, former BJP leader, hoped that ‘the CJI would say no to the offer, otherwise it would do incalculable damage to the reputation of the judiciary.’
Is it “quid pro quo”? How will people have faith in the Independence of Judges ? Many Questions pic.twitter.com/IQkAx4ofSf — Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) March 16, 2020
Case of Judiciary and the Government This is the first time a judiciary member is crossing the line of the legislature for a Rajya Sabha seat, but few members have crossed that line in the past for other positions.
MC Chagla served as Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court from 1947 to 1958. In 1958, he was appointed as India’s ambassador to the US. He was also the High Commissioner to the UK, Minister of Education, and Minister of External Affairs, in his later years. Gap post-retirement – 0 years.
Justice Baharul Islam, formerly a Rajya Sabha member between 1962 to 1972, served the apex court from 1980 to 1983. He became a Rajya Sabha member again in 1983 and served till 1989. Gap post-retirement – 0 years.
Justice KS Hegde served the judiciary from 1967-1973. In 1977, he was elected for the Lok Sabha seat from Bangalore. He served as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 1977 to 1980. Gap post-retirement – 4 years.
In 1979, former CJI Hidayatullah became the Vice President of India. However, he had retired as CJI in 1970. Gap post-retirement – 9 years.
After his retirement in 1991, former CJI Ranganath Mishra had joined the Congress in 1998. Gap post-retirement – 7 years
In 2014, former CJI P. Sathasivam was appointed as the Governor of Kerala after his retirement in 2013. Gap post-retirement – 1 year.
In 2017, CJI TS Thakur was offered Rajya Sabha seat by the Aam Aadmi Party. He denied the offer.
Former BJP leader, late Arun Jaitley at a conference said that there should be an adequate cooling period – preferably 2 years – before a retired judge is offered a position. He said, “For two years after retirement there should be a gap (before appointment), because otherwise the government can directly or indirectly influence the courts and the dream to have an independent, impartial and fair judiciary in the country would never actualize. I say this with a lot of responsibility that even before they retire, it is decided for the Supreme Court and High Court judges as to which Commission they will go and join.”
Curiopedia
Former CJI Ranjan Gogoi is the son of politician Kesab Chandra Gogoi. His brother Retired Air Marshal Anjan Gogoi was appointed as a full-time non-official member of the North Eastern Council in January. He is known for leading the 5-judge Supreme Court Bench that gave a verdict on Ayodhya Temple-Babri Masjid Land Dispute case. He, along with three other SC judges, held a press conference in which he and other judges had said that ‘the judiciary needs to be protected, else democracy will not survive in this country.’ They also raised the issue of the allocation of cases in the court. In April 2019, he was accused of sexual harassment by a co-working woman. He was given a clean chit by a 3-judge SC bench. More Info
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