By Express News Service
CHENNAI: New Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Wednesday hit the ground running shortly after taking oath of office, barring urgent mentions of cases and reworking the roster.
He was administered the oath by President Ram Nath Kovind in Rashtrapati Bhavan’s Darbar Hall earlier in the day.
“No mentioning. We are working out the parameters. If someone is being released today, then yes; if someone is being hanged, then yes,” the CJI said adding urgent mentioning could only be entertained if a person’s life was in danger or was being evicted.
“Let me tell you, me and my colleagues are trying to prepare a system which will function better. We are trying to reduce the time between filing and listing of cases. We are trying to introduce a system where cases don’t get dropped. If we succeed, perhaps a large section of mentioning will go away altogether,” he said while speaking at a felicitation function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association.
Under the new roster, Justice Gogoi’s first bench includes justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K M Joseph. It will also hear social justice matters, elections, company law, arbitration and other cases of constitutional importance. Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, who sat on Justice Dipak Misra’s bench, have been transferred to other benches. In all, there will be 11 benches since the current SC strength is 24.
