A judge should retire gracefully: Justice AK Patnaik on ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi’s nomination to Rajya Sabha

Slamming the nomination of the former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi to the Rajya Sabha by the Narendra Modi-led government, retired Supreme Court judge AK Patnaik said, “I don’t understand why the former CJI should accept the nomination to the Rajya Sabha or even get elected. He has no role there. Neither should a President appoint a former CJI to the RS and nor should he accept it. That is how institutions are maintained. A judge should retire gracefully.”

“We have to maintain the independence and purity of institutions. One cannot mix these things. If the government wanted someone from the legal field, there are many others who could have contributed; there are several lawyers and legal academicians who should have been considered,” asserted Patnaik, who headed the panel to investigate the alleged conspiracy to frame Gogoi in a sexual harassment complaint.

Patnaik said Gogoi had chosen to be in the judiciary, so he must retire gracefully. “He should have worked out his career earlier if he had wanted to be a politician. Rajya Sabha members have a great role to play, but judiciary has its own role,” underscored Patnaik.

In June last year, a committee headed by Justice AK Patnaik while investigating the alleged conspiracy to frame Gogoi in a sexual harassment complaint had asked the Central Bureau of Investigation, Delhi Police and the Intelligence Bureau to probe the alleged nexus and provide “requisite materials” to get to the bottom of the purported conspiracy to frame Gogoi.

A woman employee of the apex court had, in April 2019 accused Gogoi of sexually harassing her. She had alleged that she was sacked for rejecting his advances. She has since then been reinstated, according to reports. A few days after her allegations, an advocate Utsav Bains had filed an affidavit stating that the woman’s allegations were a part of a larger conspiracy to frame Gogoi. He had claimed that he had been offered ₹1.5 crores by a middleman to publicise the staffer’s allegations to frame CJI Gogoi.