News Analysis India

Tag: Ranjan Gogoi

  • CIC rejects appeal seeking details of SC collegium meeting on December 12, 2018

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Central Information Commission has dismissed an RTI appeal seeking the agenda of the Supreme Court collegium meeting on December 12, 2018, which has been referred to by former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi in his recent autobiography.

    According to the autobiography ‘Justice for the Judge’, the names of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog, the then Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court, and Justice Rajendra Menon, the then Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, had received nod for the elevation to the Supreme Court in the collegium meeting on December 12, 2018.

    The matter allegedly got leaked after which the issue was kept in abeyance by Justice Gogoi till January, 2019 because of winter break which started on December 15, 2018, the book said.

    In January 2019, a new collegium got constituted, after the retirement of Justice Madan Lokur.

    The new collegium in its resolution on January 10, 2019 did not clear the names of Justice Nandrajog and Justice Menon for elevation to the Supreme Court, according to the book.

    The agenda of and decisions taken at the meeting on December 12, 2018 were not made public.

    Activist Anjali Bhardwaj through her RTI petition filed before the Supreme Court wanted copies of the agenda, decisions taken and resolutions passed in the December 12, 2018 meeting.

    The Supreme Court Central Public Information Officer refused information, citing a stay granted by the apex court on the disclosure of issues such as appointment of judges.

    It also cited exemption clauses Section 8(1)(b) of the RTI Act, saying disclosure may result in contempt of court, and 8(1)(e) (information held in fiduciary capacity) and 8(1)(j) (information being personal in nature) to deny the information.

    In her appeal before the first appellate authority of the SC, Bhardwaj said there was no reason why decisions of December 12, 2018 meeting were not uploaded on the apex court website.

    She said she was not seeking third party information but is seeking resolutions of the Supreme Court collegium which are otherwise placed in the public domain.

    The first appellate authority (FAA) referred to the resolution passed on January 10, 2019 meeting of the collegium where a reference was made to the December 12 meeting.

    “The Collegium comprising the Chief Justice of India and four senior-most Judges of the Supreme Court viz.Mr.Justices Madan B.Lokur, A.K.Sikri, S.A.Bobde and N.V.Ramana met on Wednesday, 12th December, 2018 to discuss the Agenda viz., (1) to consider and recommend names for appointment as Judges in the Supreme Court and (2) to consider proposals for transfer of Chief Justices and Judges of High Courts.”

    “The then Collegium on 12th December, 2018 took certain decisions. However, the required consultation could not be undertaken and completed as the winter vacation of the Court intervened. By the time the Court re-opened, the composition of the Collegium underwent a change. After extensive deliberations on 5th / 6th January, 2019, the newly constituted Collegium deemed it appropriate to have a fresh look at the matter and also to consider the proposals in the light of the additional material that became available,” the Supreme Court FAA order said, citing relevant portion of the collegium resolution on January 10, 2019.

    The question that required answer is whether on December 12, 2018 resolutions were passed by the collegium of the Supreme Court as claimed by Bhardwaj, it said.

    “The answer finds place in the resolution passed by Collegium on January 10, 2019 which is published on Supreme Court website,” the FAA order said.

    Bhardwaj approached the Central Information Commission challenging the order of FAA of the Supreme Court.

    After hearing both sides, Chief Information Commissioner Y K Sinha held that it is clear that the agenda of December 12, 2018 meeting of the collegium has been mentioned in the resolution dated January 10, 2019, which answered demand for the agenda of the meeting.

    “The Commission concurs with the order of the FAA and holds that in the absence of any resolution passed in the meeting dated December 12, 2018, no available information as per section 2(f) of the RTI Act exists on record which can be disclosed to the appellant,” Sinha said.

    He said the outcome of the fate of the meeting held on December 12, 2018 has been discussed in the resolution dated January 10, 2019, hence no further intervention of the Commission is required in the matter.

  • Former CJI Ranjan Gogoi terms Nagaland incident mistake, cautions against hasty decision on AFSPA

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi Wednesday termed as a “mistake” and “unfortunate” the deaths of 14 civilians in the Nagaland firing incident and said that hasty decisions are not needed concerning demands for repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

    A total of 15 people lost their lives in the incident, including 14 civilians and an Army personnel when an angry mob allegedly attacked an Assam Rifles camp in Nagaland and the incident has led to the growing chorus of demands seeking repeal of the AFSPA.

    The 1958 law is an Act of Parliament that grants special powers to Armed Forces to maintain public order in “disturbed areas”.

    “The demand for repeal (of AFSPA) has been going for long. The incident (deaths in Nagaland) was a mistake. Accidents are unfortunate. Stringent laws may be required. Hasty decisions are not needed,” said the former CJI and Rajya Sabha MP.

    “At times you feel the requirements, but in times of accident, you feel the need for repeal. Truth goes both ways,” he said.

    The 46th CJI, the first from the northeast states, was speaking at the launch of his autography, ‘Justice for the Judge’ here and expressed his opinion on the issue in response to a question.

    On the issue of him being nominated for Rajya Sabha, the former CJIs said, “You cannot calm me down with noises. Even if I have second thoughts of continuing, today I am strong. I will not bow down to unconstitutional voices.”

    On the collegiums system of judges appointing judges, he said, “I had no difficulty with the process when I was there…We had a consensus after prolonged discussions. Every system has positive and negative. Everything has to be fine balanced.”

    On the transfer of judges following the intelligence report, Justice Gogoi said the matter is political in which judges have no say and was with Parliament.

  • AG declines consent to initiate contempt proceedings against ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Attorney General K K Venugopal has refused to grant sanction to initiate contempt proceedings against former Chief Justice of India (CJI) and Rajya Sabha lawmaker Ranjan Gogoi for his alleged statements against the apex judiciary.

    Activist Saket Gokhale had sought consent, a condition precedent for initiating criminal contempt proceedings, of the top-most law officer to initiate the case against the former CJI who had reportedly said at an event that the judiciary is “ramshackled” and it is quite unlikely for a person to get a timely verdict.

    “I had the occasion to watch the entirety of the interview. It is obvious that all that has been said was good for the institution and will not any manner scandalise the court or lower its authority in the eyes of law,” Venugopal said in his letter to the activist, denying consent for initiating the proceedings.

    Venugopal said though ex-CJI’s statements were strong, but they reflected his views on the ills of the judiciary.

    The plea, seeking consent to initiate contempt proceedings against the nominated Rajya Sabha MP, had specifically referred to the statements of Justice Gogoi who had said, “You want a 5 trillion dollar economy but you have a ramshackled judiciary. If you were to go to court, you would only be washing your dirty linen in court. You won’t get a verdict. I have no hesitation in saying it.”

    Under the Contempt of Courts Act and the rules, the consent of attorney general or the solicitor general is required for filing a criminal contempt case by a private individual.

  • Ranjan Gogoi sexual harassment case: Can’t rule out conspiracy against ex-CJI, says Supreme Court

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  The Supreme Court on Thursday closed the suo motu proceedings initiated in the sexual harassment case against former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi. The court had registered the case back in 2019 on Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s request to examine the alleged conspiracy against the judiciary in the wake of sexual harassment allegations that had surfaced against Gogoi.

    The possibility of a conspiracy could not be ruled out, the top court said, adding it could be linked to Justice Gogoi’s decisions, including his views on the NRC. However, the case was being closed as nearly two years had passed and the possibility of retrieving electronic records was very little, it said.

    The court made the decision based on the report of former Justice AK Patnaik, who was tasked with probing a larger conspiracy in the allegations against Gogoi and whether middlemen and fixers working with disgruntled court officials were trying to fix judges.

    The Patnaik panel was not able to get electronic records to probe the conspiracy to frame the ex-CJI, the bench said. The court said since the in-house inquiry committee had also gone into the merit of sexual harassment charges, no purpose would be served in continuing the suo motu proceedings.

    “We are of the view no true purpose would be served. Pleadings are closed and suo motu disposed of. The report be put in sealed cover,” the court said, while disposing of the case. 

  • Judiciary ramshackled, going to court is useless: Ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi

    NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over the increasing pendency of cases that is clogging the Indian judicial system, former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi termed the situation as “ramshackled” and added that even he would not go to the courts.

    “Who goes to the court? You go to the court and regret,” Gogoi said, adding that it is those who can afford to take chances, such as the big corporates, who approach the courts. Gogoi, who was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in March 2020 after his retirement as the CJI in November 2019, was speaking at an event at Kolkata.

    “If you go to the court, you would be washing dirty linen in the court. You will not get a verdict,” the former CJI said in reply to a question if he would take legal action against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra over her statement in the Lok Sabha that Gogoi discredited the judiciary by deciding the sexual harassment allegations against himself.

    Without naming Moitra, Gogoi said that the “lady politician” did not have her facts right as he did not decide the case against him. Gogoi said he had handed over the file to Justice SA Bobde, who was the next senior judge then, who in turn constituted an inquiry panel as per the in-house procedure.

    Gogoi stressed the need for a roadmap to overhaul the judicial system. “You want a 5 trillion dollar economy but you have a ramshackled judiciary,” he commented, adding that during the pandemic, 60 lakh cases were added at the trial courts, 3 lakh in high courts and nearly 7,000 in the apex court.

    “The road map is to have the right man for the job. You don’t appoint judges as you appoint officers in the government. To be a judge is a full time commitment. It is a passion. There are no working hours,” he said, stressing that the training of judges should be robust.

  • ‘Judiciary should remain uncontaminated’

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Implying that the January 12 Press conference by four senior judges of the Supreme Court was required, Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Thursday said that independent journalists and noisy judges were needed at times.

    Modifying a quote from an article, Justice Gogoi said “not only independent judges and noisy journalists, but even independent journalists and sometimes noisy judges” were democracy’s first line of defence.He said that if the judiciary wished to preserve its independence, it should remain uncontaminated by external interference.

    Justice Gogoi was speaking at the third Ramnath Goenka Lecture organised by The Indian Express.Speaking on the topic ‘Vision for Justice’, Justice Gogoi said “fierce independence” was the “bedrock of justice”. “But I would like to add that ‘independence’ must always be responsible, with due regard to established constitutional values,” he added.

    Earlier this year, on January 12, Justice Gogoi had, along with three of his Supreme Court colleagues, Justices J Chelameswar (now retired), Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph, held an unprecedented Press conference, making public a letter they had written to Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra in November raising questions on various issues pertaining to the functioning of the court, particularly allocation of cases to different benches.

    “It’s a discharge of debt to the nation which we have done,” Justice Gogoi had said.Stressing on the importance of judicial independence, Justice Gogoi said, “I will only say that if it wishes to preserve its moral and institutional leverage, it must remain uncontaminated. And, independent. And, fierce. And, at all times. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. So is an institution.”

    He also observed that the judiciary had never been in the news as much as it was now.“Public institutions, one of them being judiciary were tweaked when the need was felt to give life to prodigious idea of justice,” Justice Gogoi  said.

  • Former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi provided ‘Z+’ VIP security cover

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Centre has accorded the top category ‘Z+’ VIP security cover to former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, official sources said on Friday.

    They said that 66-year-old Gogoi will be protected by armed commandos of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) during his travel all across the country. A Rajya Sabha member now, Gogoi was earlier being provided with a security cover of the Delhi Police.

    He retired in November, 2019 and was later nominated to the upper house of Parliament by the government. Sources said that the CRPF has a VIP security unit and Gogoi is its 63rd protectee. They said an armed mobile team of 8-12 CRPF commandos will be securing the former CJI during travel while his house will be guarded by a similar team.

  • SC dismisses PIL seeking use of ballot papers in assembly, LS polls

    The Supreme Court Thursday dismissed a PIL seeking use of ballot papers instead of EVMs during upcoming assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

    A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi did not agree with the contention of NGO ‘Nyay Bhoomi’ that electronic voting machines are capable of being misused and they should not be used in the polls to ensure free and fair elections.

    “Every system and machine is capable to be used and misused. Doubts will be everywhere,” the bench said, while dismissing the PIL.

  • SC to hear on November 13 pleas challenging its Sabarimala verdict

    The Supreme Court Tuesday said that it would hear on November 13 the petitions challenging its Sabarimala verdict allowing women of all age groups entry into the temple.

    A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S K Kaul told lawyer Mathews J Nedumpara that it has already passed an order with regard to listing of petitions on November 13.

    Earlier the court had noted that there were 19 review petitions pending in the matter, filed by National Ayyappa Devotees Association and others seeking a review of its verdict.

    A five-judge constitution bench by a ratio of 4:1 had held that women of all age groups should be allowed entry into Kerala’s Sabarimala Temple.