The Supreme Court expressed serious concern regarding former Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi’s inclusion as a party in a PIL. The petition seeks an in-house inquiry into his earlier dismissal of a plea related to a service dispute.
How can you file a PIL with a judge as a respondent? There has to be some dignity. You cannot just say I want an in-house inquiry against a judge. Justice Ranjan Gogoi was a former judge of the Supreme Court,” a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud told a Pune-based litigant.”
He retired as the Chief Justice of India. You cannot say I want an in-house inquiry against a judge because you did not succeed before the bench. Sorry, we cannot tolerate this”, the bench said.
The litigant filed a PIL after a plea concerning his termination under labour laws was dismissed by a bench led by the now-retired Justice Ranjan Gogoi.
At the beginning of the proceedings, the Chief Justice expressed annoyance when the litigant responded with “ya-ya” instead of “yes” to questions from the bench, including Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
“What is this ‘ya-ya’. This is not the coffee shop. I am very allergic to this ‘ya ya’. This cannot be allowed,” the CJI said.
The litigant said this was the case of “illegal termination”.
“How can you file a PIL in a service matter after dismissal of the petition and the review plea, You should have filed a curative petition,” the CJI said.
The Chief Justice also communicated in Marathi to help the litigant understand the legal issues and procedural objections. He instructed the litigant to submit a statement to the apex court registry confirming that he would remove the former Chief Justice’s name from the list of parties involved, PTI reported.
“Will you delete Justice Gogoi’s name in the appeal against lodgement of the MA (miscellaneous application)? Will you give this in writing…you delete first and then we will see,” the CJI said.
Justice Gogoi, who is presently a Rajya Sabha MP, was the first person from the northeast to reach the top post in judiciary and was credited for bringing the curtains down on the decades old politically and religiously sensitive Ayodhya land dispute case.