Ranjan Gogoi, Former Chief Justice, Nominated To Rajya Sabha By President Ram Nath Kovind

President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday nominated former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi to the Rajya Sabha. Gogoi served as the 46th Chief Justice of India from October 3, 2018, to November 17, 2019. This move by the President is unparalleled, no Chief Justice has been nominated for the Rajya Sabha. This House has usually been dominated by celebrities, artists and few members of the judiciary.

Reuters

Decades ago, former Chief Justice Ranganath Mishra joined the Congress and became the Member of Parliament. Justice Mishra, who retired in 1991 was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1998 and stayed there till 2004.

After this, Former Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam became a Governor of Kerala appointed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.

Before getting nominated as Judge of the Gauhati High Court, former Justice Baharul Islam became the Rajya Sabha MP. He was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court in 1980. He went on to discharge then Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra in the urban cooperative bank scandal. He then resigned as Judge and became the Rajya Sabha member again.

Reuters

Former CJI Ranjan Gogoi retired in November last year after presiding over the Supreme Court for around 13 months.

He was among the four sitting top judges who had held a first of its kind press conference in January 2018 when Dipak Misra was the Chief Justice. They had a question against the selection of judges on the basis of cases which were allotted by the Justice Dipak Misra.