Former Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi opens up on why he accepted Rajya Sabha nomination

Ex-Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, who was nominated to the Rajya Sabha on Monday by President Ram Nath Kovind in an unprecedented move, stated thta his presence in praliament will "be an opportunity to project the views of the judiciary before the legislative and vice versa".

"I will go to Delhi probably tomorrow. Let me first take oath, then I will speak in detail to the media why I accepted this...," Ranjan Gogoi told reporters in Assam's Guwahati on Tuesday.

"I have accepted it since I have a strong conviction that the legislative and the judiciary must at some point of time work together for nation-building. My presence in parliament will be an opportunity to project the views of the judiciary before the legislature and vice versa," he said.

Ranjan Gogoi had retired in November 2019 after after presiding over the top court for approximately 13 months.

Gogoi was also among the four sitting top court judges who had held a first of its kind press conference in January last year when Dipak Misra was the Chief Justice. They had claimed selective "assignment of cases to preferred judges" and "sensitive cases were being allotted to junior judges" by Justice Misra.

No Chief Justice has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha before, usually dominated by celebrities and artustes, by the head of the state. And few members of the judiciary have crossed over to the space of legislature.

Previously, ex-Chief Justice of India Ranganath Mishra had joined the Congress and became the Member of Parliament. He was nominated to the Upper House in 1998 and was there till 2004.

As a judge, Gogai had headed the constitution bench that had delivered a landmark verdict on Ayodhya land dispute case. The court had handed the disputed 2.77 acre land for a temple and 5 acres for a mosque in a different location in Ayodhya.

He was also part of the bench that gave clean chit to the centre government in the Rafale case, saying that there is no occasion to doubt the decision making process in the procurement of the aitcrafts.

There were also allegations of sexual harassment against Gogoi by an employee of the court, but was cleared by the three-member SC panel that was looking into the matter.

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