Former CJI Ranjan Gogoi's nomination to Rajya Sabha kicks up row

A controversy broke out over the government’s decision to nominate former chief justice of India Ranjan Gogoi to Rajya Sabha with Opposition parties and judges including a former colleague of Gogoi saying this will erode people’s trust in the judicial system.

Justice (retired) Kurien Joseph, who was part of the group of four judges including Gogoi, which had held an unprecedented press conference in 2018, raising issues affecting the judiciary, said Gogoi's appointment has “shaken the confidence of the common man in the independence of the judiciary".

Reacting sharply to the Gogoi’s nomination to Rajya Sabha, Joseph, in a statement, said that he, along with three judges Justice Chelameswar, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Madan Lokur had come out in public to tell the nation there was a threat to this foundation.

READ: Let me take oath, I will speak in detail about accepting RS nomination: Ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi

“Now I feel the threat is at large, also the reason I decided not to take up any posts after retirement. According to me, the acceptance of nomination as a member of Rajya Sabha by a former chief justice of India has shaken the confidence of the common man on the independence of the judiciary,” he said.

The former chief justice of Delhi High Court, Justice AP Shah called it “quid pro quo” and said felt “this is a death knell for separation of powers and independence of the judiciary”.

He told NDTV, "the message it sends to the judiciary as a whole is—if you deliver judgements, which are favourable to the executive, you will be rewarded. If you do not, you will be treated adversely and transferred."

Recently there was a big row over the transfer of Delhi High Court judge S Muralidhar, which happened hours after he criticised the Delhi Police for inaction against some BJP leaders, who had made controversial remarks during the recent Delhi violence.

Amid the row over his Rajya Sabha nomination deepening, Gogoi, who had headed benches that gave key judgements including on Ayodhya land dispute case, argued that he accepted the offer “because of a strong conviction” that the "legislature and judiciary must at some point of time work together" for nation-building.

The main Opposition party Congress, which had also given a Rajya Sabha ticket to a former CJI Ranganath Misra way back in 1998, held a special press conference in which party spokesperson and a lawyer Abhishek Singhvi slammed the decision to nominate Gogoi for Rajya Sabha soon after retirement.

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Describing this as one of the most “serious, unprecedented and unpardonable assaults on the basic structure of the Constitution”, Singhvi referred to remarks of former finance minister and law minister late Arun Jaitley, who had said, “pre-retirement judgments are influenced by a desire for a post-retirement job”.

Jaitley had advocated that for two years after retirement, there should be a gap (before the appointment) because otherwise, the government can directly or indirectly influence the courts and the dream of an independent, impartial and fair judiciary in the country would never actualise.

Congress leaders chose to see a difference between the appointment of Rangnath Misra and Ranjan Gogoi saying this is “inapplicable and misleading” as Misra was appointed to the Rajya Sabha six years after he demitted office as the chief justice of India.

"Difference is Ranganath Misra retired as CJI in November 1991 and came to Rajya Sabha in 1998 after serving as NHRC Chairperson from 1993-1996. Full seven years after retiring as CJI. You can appreciate the difference between seven years and seven weeks—the perceptional issues it creates," former Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari tweeted.

Opposition parties have made a big campaign out of the issue of Gogoi’s RS nomination. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said this will erode people's trust in the judicial system and accused Modi government of being hell-bent on destroying the independence of every institution.

In Mumbai, the NCP faulted Modi government over the decision asking the government to refrain from appointing judges who have handled sensitive cases, to Rajya Sabha. Left parties have already criticised the decision.