On last working day, CJI Ranjan Gogoi spent 4 minutes in Courtroom 1
On his last working day, outgoing Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Friday spent nearly four minutes in Court No.1 of the Supreme Court. Justice Gogoi, who retires on November 17, presided over the bench with Chief Justice-designate S.A. Bobde. Meanwhile, President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Sanjiv Khanna expressed gratitude to the CJI on behalf of the lawyers' association.
The Chief Justice took office in October 2018. According to the official schedule, he visited Raj Ghat to pay his respects to Mahatma Gandhi. After taking oath of office, he had also visited the memorial last year. His agenda on the last day in office included a video conference with High Court judges and nearly 15,000 judicial officers in various parts of the country.
Earlier on Friday, the Chief Justice's office issued a statement on numerous requests from various media houses for personal interview, where he expressed his regret.
Turning down the media request, the Chief Justice said, "As a public functionary entrusted with onerous constitutional duties to discharge, the idea of courting the press never endeared itself as a choice in the interest of my institution. I chose to belong to an institution whose strength lay in public confidence and trust earned not through good press but through our good work...it is not the requirement of our institution for judges to reach out to our citizenry through the press -- rather such outreach ought to be symbolic of an extraordinary situation demanding an exception to the norm."
The SCBA in the evening organized a farewell for the Chief Justice, which was a low-key affair without any customary speeches. All the judges of the apex court, including Chief Justice-designate S.A. Bobde, were present during the function where the outgoing Chief Justice was felicitated by members of the lawyers' body.
The SCBA said the Chief Justice avoided making any speech at the function. SCBA president Rakesh Khanna said Justice Gogoi has been one of the finest judges.
