A Supreme Court Bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra is scheduled to hear on September 26 a petition challenging the appointment of Justice Ranjan Gogoi as the next and 46th Chief Justice of India.
The petition filed by advocate R.P. Luthra in person was orally mentioned by him before Chief Justice Misra’s Bench on Tuesday for an urgent hearing. The main contention in the petition is that Justice Gogoi was one of the four senior most judges of the Supreme Court who held a press conference on January 12 about the selective allocation of sensitive cases by recent CJIs.
Advocate Luthra portrayed that as an “anti-institutional act” and said it was “no less than a sabotage”. He alleged that it was meant to “arouse public furore in the country in the names of certain internal differences in this court”.
Chief Justice Misra asked Mr. Luthra to hand over his mention memo to the court master. However, the cause list for Wednesday showed the petition to be listed before the CJI Bench.
Chief Justice Misra had recommended Justice Gogoi as the next senior-most judge to be the CJI in accordance with convention. The government had shown no objection and President had signed the warrant of appointment.
Justice Gogoi is scheduled to assume office on October 3.