Former CJI Ranjan Gogoi likely to take oath as Rajya Sabha member on Thursday

Former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi is likely to take oath as Rajya Sabha member at 11 AM on Thursday (tomorrow).

On Monday, President Ram Nath Kovind nominated  Gogoi to the Rajya Sabha. A government notification issued on this day informed that Gogoi has been nominated to the upper house of the Parliament.

Ranjan Gogoi, who held the post of CJI from October 3 2018, to November 17, 2019, led several historic decisions during his tenure — including key judgments in highly-sensitive disputes like the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi Babri Masjid title dispute case, the 'Entry of women to Sabarimala Temple' row, and the Rafale deal controversy, and the Assam NRC dispute — to name a few. CJI Gogoi's latest milestone was that on November 9, the five-judge Bench headed by him delivered the verdict in the much-debated Ayodhya dispute case.

The move created massive outrage among the opposition parties. 

AAP MLA Raghav Chadha also raised question over Gogoi's nomination and said that it will set a bad precedent and cause huge loss to the independence of the judiciary. "This will not merely set a bad precedent but will cause irreparable damage to the independence of the judiciary. Separation of powers btw the legislature, executive & judiciary is part of the basic structure of our Constitution - which this Govt has systematically dismantled & damaged," he tweeted.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi also condemned the move, adding that it will have repercussions of the move on the independence of the judiciary. "Is it “quid pro quo”? How will people have faith in the Independence of Judges? Many Questions," he wrote on Twitter.

Ranjan Gogoi was serving as the 46th Chief Justice of India, after succeeding 45th CJI Dipak Misra. On November 17, 2019, Gogoi was succeeded by Judge Sharad Arvind Bobde.