Outgoing CJI Gogoi declines requests for interviews
Lauds the press for its ‘maturity’ in preventing ‘falsehood’ in ‘trying times’ of the judiciary
NEW DELHI: Outgoing Chief Justice India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi on Friday expressed his inability to have one-toone interview with scribes and lauded the press for its "maturity" and "character" in preventing "canards and falsehood" in "trying times" of the judiciary.
Justice Gogoi, the 46th CJI and the first from a north-eastern state, said it was not the requirement of the Supreme Court that judges "reach out to our citizenry through the press".
"Such outreach (to the press) ought to be symbolic of an extraordinary situation demanding an exception to the norm," said Justice Gogoi who would demit office on November 17, a Sunday.
Justice Gogoi and three other senior most apex court judges -- Justices J Chelameswar, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph had held an unprecedented press conference on January 12, 2018 alleging that the administration and allocation of cases in the apex court, then headed by the then CJI Dipak Misra, was "not in order". In a three-page common letter to journalists, the CJI declined the request for interviews and said: "I would not be able to meet your request for a one-to-one meet."
The letter said: "I am keen that you would appreciate that the ordinary freedoms are finely balanced in our institutional functioning - while you have the Bar whose members can exercise their freedom of speech to the extent of even
Outgoing Chief Justice of India Justice Ranjan Gogoi being presented a memento by Cji-designate Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde and other dignitaries during his farewell function at the Supreme Court in Delhi, Friday pushing the boundaries of such tional necessity, and no more. freedom, the bench requires Bitter truth must remain in its judges to maintain silence, memory." The CJI lauded the while exercising their freerole of media for its reportage doms. "This is not to say that during the "trying times" of the Judges do not speak. They do apex judicial institution. speak, but only out of func- "Good press is also a parameter amongst others that is known to be indicative of our institutional health. In such view, I do wish to put on record that by and large, the press corps has been kind to my office as well as to our institution during my tenure at the helm of the institution.
"Even during trying times. When our institution was keeping an ambush or two at bay, most members of the press displayed maturity and character ad exercised exceptional discretion to prevent canards and falsehood from clogging the news space," the letter said.
Gogoi said as a public functionary, who was entrusted with onerous Constitutional duties to perform, the idea of "courting the press" never came as a choice for him in the interest of the institution.