CJI surprised at pace of appointment of 4 judges to SC

Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Friday said he himself was in awe over the “historic” pace of development leading to issuance of notifications within 48 hours for appointment of four judges in the Supreme Court.

In an informal chat with journalists, he said he is looking for systemic reforms and working on a proposal to provide a one-page summary of voluminous judgments and provide its translation in Hindi and other vernacular languages to the benefit of the public in general and litigants in particular.

On Friday, four new judges took oath of office and assumed charge. Justices M R Shah, Hemant Gupta, R Subhash Reddy and Ajay Rastogi were administered the oath of office by the CJI as the top court judges. The swearing in took place in CJI's court amid the presence of other judges, lawyers and family members of newly appointed judges.

All the four judges were a part of separate benches during the court proceedings.

In the afternoon, as Justice Gogoi, along with Justice S A Bobde, came to meet the journalists in the press lounge for the first time after being appointed as the CJI on October 3. He minced no words to admit on a query, “I, myself, am in the awe over the fast pace of appointment. On Wednesday morning, we sent the recommendations. I was told by the evening, the medical of judges were over. On Thursday, the notifications were issued.”

He also said there should be no doubt that Justice Bobde, the senior most in succession order, would be the next CJI. Justice Gogoi would demit office on November 17, 2020. Justice Bobde is to succeed him and would remain in office as CJI till April 23, 2021.

On a controversy related to appointment of Justice A A Kureshi as acting chief justice of Gujarat HC, the CJI said, “We made a mistake and corrected it by a new notification and made him as acting chief justice for being the senior most, till he takes over in Bombay HC.” The Collegium had earlier appointed Justice A S Dave, the second senior most judge, as acting chief justice in the Gujarat HC. The vacancy over there arose after elevation of then chief justice R Subhash Reddy to the top court.