Top court rejects plea for inquiry

nNEWDELHI:THE Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking an in-house inquiry against former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi over allegations of “misconduct” levelled by a 69-year-old man aggrieved by a 2016 order passed by the former judge.

Gogoi demitted office in November 2019 and was recently nominated by the President to become a member of the Rajya Sabha. Arun Ramchandra Hublikar, a resident of Pune, had filed the petition against Gogoi in 2018. Appearing in person before a bench of justices Arun Mishra, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari, Hublikar demanded that a threejudge committee should be constituted under the in-house procedure for remedial action against judges of the higher judiciary whose conduct does not follow the prescribed Restatement of Judicial Values adopted by the Supreme Court in 1999. Hublikar said he was an industrial workman and pleaded that he was aggrieved by an “ex-parte” order passed by Gogoi in July 2016. He said, “This is a matter of concern for the institution and must be investigated in depth”.

After hearing the petitioner, the bench said, “He has demitted office. Your every prayer has become infructuous. No prayer can be allowed. We cannot consider anything because of efflux of time.” Hublikar said, “What is my fault? Since 2018, I have been writing dozens of letters to the Supreme Court registry to list my petition. In April 2019, I even met the secretary general in this regard.”

He requested the bench to at least order an inquiry based on his petition. The bench said, “Not like this can we order at your will,” as it proceeded to dismiss the plea.