New Delhi, Sep 30: The Supreme Court expressed strong disapproval on Monday over a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that named former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi as a respondent and sought an in-house inquiry against him. The PIL was filed by a Pune-based litigant following the dismissal of a previous plea related to a service dispute. A bench led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, along with Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, admonished the petitioner for seeking an inquiry against a retired Supreme Court judge without proper grounds.
“How can you file a PIL with a judge as a respondent? There must be some level of decorum. You cannot simply demand an in-house inquiry against a judge because your case didn’t succeed,” Chief Justice Chandrachud said in his remarks, underscoring that Justice Ranjan Gogoi had served as a former Chief Justice of India. “He retired as the Chief Justice of this court. We cannot entertain such requests simply because the petitioner is dissatisfied with the outcome of their case. This cannot be tolerated,” he added.
The litigant had filed the PIL after his previous petition, concerning his termination of services under labour laws, was dismissed by a bench headed by Justice Gogoi prior to his retirement. The petitioner had also failed in his attempt to seek a review of the earlier decision.
During the hearing, Chief Justice Chandrachud became visibly irked when the litigant responded with “ya-ya” instead of “yes” to the court’s questions. “This is not a coffee shop. I am very allergic to this kind of informal language. We cannot allow this,” the CJI stated firmly.
The bench further pointed out that the PIL was procedurally flawed, as the petitioner should have pursued a curative petition rather than filing a fresh PIL. Addressing the litigant in Marathi to explain the legal and procedural issues more clearly, the Chief Justice emphasized the importance of following proper channels. He then directed the petitioner to submit a written statement to the Supreme Court registry agreeing to remove Justice Gogoi’s name from the list of parties in the case.
“Will you delete Justice Gogoi’s name from the appeal against the miscellaneous application? Please provide this in writing, and only then will we proceed further,” Chief Justice Chandrachud instructed.
Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who is currently a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, was the first person from the northeast of India to serve as Chief Justice of India. His tenure was marked by several significant rulings, most notably the resolution of the politically and religiously sensitive Ayodhya land dispute, a case that had been ongoing for decades. He retired as CJI on November 17, 2019.
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