Justice Ranjan Gogoi appointed as next CJI; Here's all you need to know about him

Justice Ranjan Gogoi, the senior-most judge in the Supreme Court after CJI Dipak Misra, was appointed as the next Chief Justice of India on Thursday after President Ram Nath Kovind gave his approval to him for the post, which he will take over from Dipak Misra on October 3, 2018. Gogoi becomes the 46th CJI, and succeeds Dipak Misra, who has been at the helm since August 2017. 

Who is Justice Ranjan Gogoi?

Born on 18th November, 1954, Ranjan Gogoi is the son of former Assam Chief Minister and Indian National Congress leader, Keshab Chandra. In 1978, he enrolled himself in the Bar Association of India. Gogoi practised on constitution, taxation and company matters in the Gauhati High Court, and was made a permanent judge in the court on February 28, 2001. After almost spending 10 years in Gauhati High Court, Ranjan Gogoi was transferred to the Punjab and Haryana Court on September 9, 2010.

Within six months of his appointment, Gogoi became the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court. And in April 2012, he was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court.

Four-judges press conference

One of the major highlights in which Ranjan Gogoi was involved took place earlier this year in January. He, along with three other judges -- J Chelameswar, M B Lokur, and Kurian Joseph, historically for the first time ever, held a press conference highlighting the concerns over the 'allocation of cases' by CJI Dipak Misra, as well as addressing the issues over 'the administration of Supreme Court'.

It was the first time in India's history that the judges of SC had used a press conference as the medium to express their concerns. While some lauded Gogoi and the other three for speaking out, others felt that their outburst could have hampered the sovereignty of Supreme Court.

Some of his most notable cases

In 2016, Justice Gogoi issued a contempt notice to Markandey Katju for his comments on the 2011 Soumya rape and murder case. Katju had heavily criticized the judgment passed by a three-judge bench including Gogoi, which had given a life sentence to Govindaswamy and had overturned the death sentence given by a trial court. Gogoi found that Katju's comments in this case as "an attack on the judges and not the judgment". But after apology from the former SC judge, the case of contempt to court was closed.

He was also a part of a bench which rejected advocate Kamini Jaiswal's petition seeking SIT into the attacks on Kanhaiya Kumar in the Patiala High Court in Februrary 2016.