Justice Ranjan Gogoi retires as CJI

Justice Ranjan Gogoi, first person from rast to reach top of judiciary and credited for bringing curtains down on decades-old politically and religiously sensitive Ayodhya land dispute, retired as chief justice of India on Sunday. Justice Gogoi's tenure as judge and as CJI was marked by some controversies and personal allegations but that never came in way of his judicial work that was reflected in last few days when benches headed by him delivered some path-breaking judgements.

He etched his name in annals of history when a five-judge bench headed by him on vember 9 brought an end to Ayodhya land dispute, which dates back to even before Supreme Court came into existence in 1950. However, his tenure in apex court will also be remembered for being part of a presser by 'gang of four' senior-most judges in January last year which questioned n CJI's way of functioning.

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Later at a public function, Justice Gogoi had remarked that "independent judges and isy journalists are democracy's first line of defence". A "revolution, t reform" was needed to keep institution of judiciary serviceable for common man, Justice Gogoi had said at same function. Justice Gogoi's tenure as CJI was t free of controversy as he faced allegations of sexual harassment, of which he was cleared.

However, he is more likely to be remembered for Ayodhya verdict that gave Hindus 2.77 acres disputed land for construction of Ram Temple, and order that Muslims be given a 5-acre land at a "prominent location" to build a mosque in city. CJI also headed a bench which, by a majority 3:2 verdict, referred to a larger 7-judge bench pleas seeking review of apex court's historic 2018 judgement allowing women and girls of all s to enter Kerala's Sabarimala temple. majority verdict included in ambit of review petitions raising issues of alleged religious discrimination against Muslim and Parsi women as well.

Justice Gogoi's name will also be remembered for heading a bench which gave clean chit to Modi government twice -- first on writ petition and n on Thursday on pleas seeking review of December 14, 2018 verdict -- in Rafale fighter jet deal with French firm Dassault Aviation. bench warned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for wrongly attributing certain remarks to apex court in Rafale case and asked him to be more careful in future.

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Besides, Justice Gogoi headed a bench which is a landmark verdict held that office of CJI is a public authority under Right to Information Act, but "judicial independence has to be kept in mind" while disclosing information in "public interest".

On same day, a 5-judge Constitution bench headed by him struck down in entirety rules formulated by Centre on appointment and service conditions for members of various tribunals and referred to a larger bench issue of examining validity of pass of Finance Act 2017 as Money Bill.

se important decisions apart, Justice Gogoi, kwn for his -nsense approach, boldness and fearlessness, also led a bench which monitored and ensured that NRC exercise in Assam, his native state, is completed within set timeframe. A lot of controversies plagued National Register of Citizens (NRC) but he stood his ground and came out in public recently to defend decision to hold exercise to identify illegal immigrants.

On Friday was last day for his judicial work and he sat in Supreme Court's number one court for just about four minutes during which lawyers' body of apex court expressed gratitude to him. He reached out through video conferencing to country's judges in all high Courts and judicial officers of district and taluka courts on Friday.

outgoing CJI in a signed statement later in day expressed his inability to have a one-to-one interview with journalists but lauded press for its "maturity" and "character" in preventing "canards and falsehood" in "trying times" of judiciary.

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Justice Gogoi's tenure

Justice Gogoi, who was sworn on October 3, 2018, as 46th CJI, had tenure of a little over 13 months. Since taking up leadership of Indian judiciary, and also as judge of apex court before that, Justice Gogoi faced several ups and downs but that did t affect his approach to take on issues head-on.

While Justice Gogoi was kwn for taking hard and sometimes surprising decisions, Ayodhya matter reflected both as he ensured that arguments were t allowed to be dragged and wrapped up hearing two days ahead of scheduled deadline of October 18, saying 'eugh is eugh'.

As CJI, he took tough decisions against erring judges and recommended ir 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.

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