New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday junked a PIL challenging the nomination of former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi to the Rajya Sabha by the government.
As counsel for petitioner Satish S Kambiye submitted that the former Chief Justice was not eligible to be nominated to Rajya Sabha, the bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S. Oka said: “Who will decide the eligibility? You? Sorry, we don’t find any merit in this plea.”
The bench said it was publicity interest litigation, while declining to entertain the petition, and told the counsel: “You should be fortunate that we are not imposing a cost on you.”
In November 2019, after a tenure of a little over 13 months, Gogoi retired as the CJI, during which he headed the five-judge bench which decided the Ayodhya title dispute. On March 16, 2020, he was nominated to Rajya Sabha by the government. He is the first former Chief Justice of India to be nominated to Rajya Sabha.
