'Has The Last Bastion Fallen?': Congress Questions Ranjan Gogoi's Rajya Sabha Nomination

The Congress has lashed out at the nomination of former chief justice of India Ranjan Gogoi as a Rajya Sabha candidate.

Citing news reports, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala questioned the government's move, saying, "Justice Lokur rightly summarises it - Has the last bastion fallen?"

Justice Lokur, who has criticized the move, was part of the group of the then senior justices who called an unprecedented press conference in January 2018 to lash out at then chief justice Dipak Misra. However, ironically so, former Gogoi was part of that press conference.

In another tweet, Surjewala said: "Did PM Modi consider the advice of his former colleague and Law Minister and Finance Minister, Late Sh. Arun Jaitley before recommending ex-CJI, Ranjan Gogoi to the Rajya Sabha?"

Jaitley had once said that the verdicts are influenced by post-retirement jobs.

On Monday, former CJI Gogoi was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the President of India.

Gogoi, the first person from northeast to reach the top of the judiciary and credited for bringing the curtains down on the decades-old politically and religiously sensitive Ayodhya land dispute, retired as the CJI on November 17 last year.

Also Read: Ranjan Gogoi Arrived With Messianic Aura But Left Behind A Legacy Scorched By Controversies

Justice Gogoi''s tenure as judge and as CJI was marked by some controversies and allegations of sexual harassment, of which he was later cleared. 

He etched his name in the annals of history when a five-judge bench headed by him on November 9 brought an end to the Ayodhya land dispute, which dates back to even before the Supreme Court came into existence in 1950.

Gogoi headed a bench which in a landmark verdict held that the office of the CJI is a public authority under the Right to Information Act, but "judicial independence has to be kept in mind" while disclosing information in "public interest".