New Delhi: Justice Ranjan Gogoi was sworn in on Wednesday as the Chief Justice of India (CJI) in a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, where he was administered the oath of office by President Ram Nath Kovind.
Gogoi succeeds Justice Dipak Misra and will be the 46th Chief Justice of India. His tenure will be a little over 13 months, and he will retire on 17 November, 2019.
Justice Dipak Misra had last month recommended the name of Justice Ranjan Gogoi according to the established practice, for consideration by the Centre as the next chief justice of the country.
Gogoi is one of the eleven judges in the Supreme Court who have disclosed their assets.
His appointment assumes significance since he will be heading the bench monitoring the preparation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in his home state, Assam. Other challenges before him include pleas to ban the Muslim practices of polygamy and nikah-halala, which involves a Muslim wife marrying another man, who subsequently divorces her so that her previous husband can re-marry her.
It, however, remains unclear if he would replace Misra as part of the three-judge bench hearing the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute.
He would also be tasked with the issue of reducing judicial backlog. As the Chief Justice designate, Gogoi had expressed concern over the pendency of cases, saying it had the potential of making the system irrelevant. He added that he had a plan to tackle it.
Elevated to the Supreme Court in 2012, Gogoi has been a part of several noteworthy cases, including the Arushi Talwar murder case, where he is heading the bench hearing the Central Bureau of Investigation’s plea against Rajesh and Nupur Talwar’s acquittal in the case.
Landmark verdicts by Gogoi also include the 2015 judgment that allowed governments to use only the photographs of the President, Prime Minister and the CJI in advertisements.
Ranjan Gogoi, son of former Assam chief minister Keshab Chandra Gogoi, was born on 18 November 1954. He joined the bar in 1978 and started his practice in Gauhati high court. He moved to Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2010 and was appointed Chief Justice of the court in 2011. He was elevated to the Supreme Court in 2012.