Govt nominates ex-CJI Gogoi to Rajya Sabha
New Delhi: Former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, who headed benches that pronounced several key judgements including in the sensitive Ayodhya land dispute case, was on Monday nominated to Rajya Sabha by the government.
Gogoi also led the benches that ruled on matters like Rafale fighter jet deal and entry of women in Sabarimala temple.
A notification announcing his nomination to the Upper House was issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday night.
"In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-clause (a) of clause (1) of article 80 of the Constitution of India, read with clause (3) of that article, the President is pleased to nominate Shri Ranjan Gogoi to the Council of States to fill the vacancy caused due to the retirement of one of the nominated members," the notification said.
The vacancy was created due to retirement of KTS Tulsi. Gogoi (65) retired as CJI in November last year after a tenure of a little over 13 months.
He will be the first former Chief Justice of India to be nominated to Rajya Sabha. Former Chief Justice Ranganath Misra was also a Rajya Sabha member but he was elected on a Congress party ticket.
Gogoi will be remembered for the verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case that gave Hindus the 2.77 acre disputed land for construction of Ram Temple, and directed that Muslims be given a 5-acre land at a "prominent location" to build a mosque in the city.
His tenure as judge and as CJI was also marked by some controversies as he had faced allegations of sexual harassment, of which he was cleared.
He was among the four senior-most judges who held an unprecedented presser in January 2018 questioning the then CJI's way of functioning.
Later at a public function, Gogoi had remarked that "independent judges and noisy journalists are a democracy's first line of defence".
A bench headed by him gave clean chit to the Modi government twice -- first on the writ petition and then on the pleas seeking review of the December 14, 2018 verdict -- in the Rafale fighter jet deal with French firm Dassault Aviation.
The bench had warned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for wrongly attributing certain remarks to the apex court in the Rafale case and asked him to be more careful in the future.
Besides, Gogoi headed a bench which in a landmark verdict held that the office of the CJI is a public authority under the Right to Information Act, but "judicial independence has to be kept in mind" while disclosing information in "public interest".
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Gogoi struck down in entirety the rules formulated by the Centre on appointment and service conditions for members of various tribunals, and referred to a larger bench the issue of examining the validity of the passage of the Finance Act, 2017 as Money Bill.
He also led a bench which monitored the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
A lot of controversies plagued the NRC but Gogoi stood his ground and later came out in public defending the decision to hold the exercise to identify illegal immigrants.
As the CJI, he took tough decisions against erring judges and recommended their transfers and a woman high court judge was virtually forced to resign.
He also headed a bench which dealt with contempt proceedings against former apex court judge Markandey Katju for his remarks against judiciary in his blog.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Bengal: Murder of Suvendu aide sparks political row; BJP, TMC trade barbs
Kolkata (PTI): The murder of a close aide of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari triggered political confrontation in West Bengal on Thursday, with the saffron camp accusing the TMC of fostering "lawlessness" and the Mamata Banerjee-led party rejecting the charge.
In a shocking development within 48 hours of the assembly poll verdict, Chandranath Rath, Adhikari's executive assistant, was shot dead in a brazen attack at Madhyamgram on Wednesday night, escalating tension in the area.
According to preliminary information, motorcycle-borne assailants intercepted Rath's vehicle near Doltala in Madhyamgram around 10.30 pm, forced it to stop and opened fire at point-blank range before fleeing.
Senior BJP leaders on Thursday alleged that the killing reflected the "complete collapse" of law and order in the state under the rule of the TMC government, which was "thrown out of power" in the assembly polls.
"A person closely associated with the leader of the opposition was targeted in a planned manner. This shows how law and order have deteriorated under the Mamata Banerjee government, which the people of Bengal have thrown out of power," a BJP leader said.
Adhikari on Thursday described the gunning down of his close aide as a "cold-blooded murder" and alleged that the killers had carried out a recce before executing the attack in North 24 Parganas district.
The Trinamool Congress dismissed the allegations and accused the BJP of attempting to politicise the incident before the investigation had progressed.
"The TMC has nothing to do with this unfortunate incident. The police are investigating the case professionally. The BJP should refrain from making baseless accusations. We are the ones who demanded a CBI probe of the killing," a senior Trinamool leader said.
The Congress demanded a transparent probe and criticised both the BJP and the TMC for "turning every tragedy into a political battle".
"The focus should remain on arresting the killers and ensuring justice, not on political point-scoring," a state Congress leader said.
The CPI(M) also condemned the killing and expressed concern over the deteriorating political atmosphere in the state.
"Violence and fear have increasingly become part of Bengal's political culture under the TMC rule. The administration must act firmly and impartially. We condemn the killing and demand strict action against those involved in the crime," a senior CPI(M) leader said.
