SC judge hints at elevation of Justice Gogoi as next CJI

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 20

Justice NVN Ramana of the Supreme Court on Wednesday hinted at the elevation of Justice Ranjan Gogoi as the next Chief Justice of India (CJI) at a function here.

Justices Ramana and Gogoi, who is the senior-most SC judge after Chief Justice Dipak Mishra, were in Srinagar to attended a daylong conference, “Empowering the Marginalised Through Legal Service”, organised by the J&K High Court and the state government in collaboration with National Legal Services Authority of India (NALSA) of which Justice Gogoi is executive chairman. The J&K Legal Services Authority and J&K High Court Legal Services Committee too were among the organisers.

“Justice Gogoi is the driving force of the activities involving NALSA and very soon the Indian judiciary will get the most promising Chief Justice the country has ever had,” Justice Ramana said while beginning his keynote address.

“We can definitely expect a great tenure and it will leave an indelible mark on the citizens of the country,” he said before he threw light on legal aid services and empowerment of the downtrodden. The remarks by a sitting SC judge assume importance as doubts persist about the government following the convention and elevating the senior-most judge as the next Chief Justice of India after CJI Misra retires on October 2, 2018.

In 2018, along with CJI Misra, six other SC judges are retiring. Justice J Chelameswar, who along with three other senior-most judges, including Justice Gogoi, had spoken out against CJI Misra in January during an unprecedented press conference, is due to retire on June 22. Speaking during an event in Delhi on April 7, Justice Chelameswar had said he hoped that the act of going public would not come in the way of elevation of Justice Gogoi.

NALSA camps at Kargil, Leh

Dwelling in length on the theme of conference, Justice Gogoi said legal service was an “inclusive service” with “limitless and infinite possibilities”.

He said NALSA recently formulated a module for organising legal services camps and identifying the potential beneficiaries for availing benefits of various government schemes and services. He said till date about 450 such camps had been organised all over the country.

He said soon such camps would be organised at Kargil and Leh on June 22 and 23, respectively.