GUWAHATI: They say, your destiny is determined by your decision and
Chief Justice of India designate
Ranjan Gogoi shaped his own when he set aside from the civil services selection, a career his father, former Assam chief minister Keshav Chandra Gogoi wanted him to join, to follow his interest and study law. And, years before this he lost a toss with his elder brother and gave up the desire to join Sainik School Goalpara.
The elated elder brother, retired Air Marshal Anjan Kumar Gogoi, the former AOC-in-Chief of Gandhinagar-based South Western Air Command of IAF, is a proud man today for having seen the qualities of a righteous man in his younger brother since childhood.
Talking to TOI from his Dibrugarh home, the senior Gogoi said, “You can’t possibly predict what can happen to you in the future but one thing I can tell as an elder brother that since childhood he (Justice Gogoi) showed indications that he treads only on the right path. I still remember, when playing a game of marble, I, as the elder brother and somewhat naughty, try to cheat, he would always challenge my game and tell me not to break the rules.”
The tell-tale signs of honesty in Gogoi the judge did not fade away with years. “From the very beginning, he always followed the right path and rules. When he took up law, I knew he would make a good lawyer, who would not take any false case just for the sake of practicing law. When he became a judge, I knew he will be a good judge,” the proud former IAF’s fighter pilot brother said.
Justice Gogoi is the second among the five siblings of three brothers and two sisters. “Our father wanted him to join the civil services. He did not go against him and appeared for the UPSC. He cleared it and was honest enough to tell our father that he has kept his wishes but he was interested in taking up law, just like him.”
The elder brother remembers, “We both were selected to join Sainik School Goalpara but our father said that only one us could go and asked to decide for ourselves who would stay back. We decided to toss a coin, and being naughty, I used the famous line, heads I win, tails you lose. I won. May be had he gone to the Sainik School, he could have achieved greater heights than me…he was far better in studies than me.”
Born on 18th November 1954, Justice Gogoi Joined the Bar in 1978 and started practice in the Gauhati High Court before was appointed as permanent judge of Gauhati High Court in 2001. In 2011, he became chief justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court and was elevated as Judge of the Supreme Court in 2012.
