Ranjan Gogoi: The 46th Chief Justice of India

As we all know, the position of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) is very crucial to maintain the proper law and order in our country. It has got various key responsibility in all the sectors of the country. The CJI swears in the President and Governors. The CJI has the power to appoint ad hoc Supreme Court judges. Here are some must-know facts and points about the newly appointed CJI- Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

Justice Ranjan Gogoi took oath as the 46th Chief Justice of India. He succeeds Justice Dipak Misra who retired on October 1. President Ram Nath Kovind administered the oath 63-year-old Justice Gogoi at a brief ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan’s Darbar Hall, in New Delhi. Justice Ranjan Gogoi, 63, is the first person from the northeast to become the Chief Justice of India. He will have a tenure of a little over 13 months and would retire on 17 November 2019.

Early life and Career Milestones:

• Born on 18 November 1954.
• He is the son of Keshab Chandra Gogoi, who was the chief minister of Assam in 1982.
• Justice Gogoi was enrolled as an advocate in the bar council in 1978.
• He practised in the Gauhati High Court on constitutional, taxation and company matters.
• On 28 February 2001, he was appointed as a Permanent Judge of the Gauhati High Court. 
• On 9 September 2010, he was transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
• He was appointed as Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court on 12 February 2011.
• On 23 April 2012, he was elevated as judge of the Supreme Court.

CJI Gogoi as a part of benches in a number of important cases –

-The May 2018 ruling regarding revoking a proposal from the Uttar Pradesh government that allowed all former chief ministers to retain their official residences.

-The judgment prohibiting the government from using photographs of anyone else except the PM, President and the CJI for advertising purposes.

-He headed the bench that directed the government to set up special courts to fast-track cases against politicians.

-He also headed the special SC bench that is monitoring the revision of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) meant for identifying genuine residents of Assam.