NEWSMAKERS OF THE WEEK
CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA DIPAK MISHRA RECOMMENDED JUSTICE GOGOI’S NAME AS THE NEXT CJI. THIS DESPITE JUSTICE RANJAN GOGOI BEING CRITICAL OF HIM. IN DOING SO THE CJI PLACED INSTITUTIONAL INTEREST ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE. WITH JUSTICE GOGOI’S APPOINTMENT IT IS HOPED THAT THE SYSTEM WILL BE MORE TRANSPARENT. Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra followed convention and recommended Justice Ranjan Gogoi as his successor and the 46th Chief Justice of India. Gogoi will be the first CJI from the north- eastern region. He was one of the four senior most Supreme Court judges who held the January 12 press conference bringing up the issue of selective assignment of sensitive cases by recent CJIs to certain judges in the Supreme Court. Noted Malayalam actor MohanLal’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday has triggered speculations that the BJP, is keen to gain a foothold in the state and could give the superstar a Lok Sabha ticket from Thiruvananthapuram. Political observers feel that considering the actor’s popularity in the state, if he joins the BJP, the saffron party could have a a chance of opening its account in Kerala during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Federer, the five- time champion who was looking to end his 10- year wait to add to his total in New York, was beaten by Australia’s world number 55 John Millman 3- 6, 7- 5, 7- 6 ( 9/ 7), 7- 6 ( 7/ 3) in the US Open on Monday. It was 20- time major winner Federer’s first loss against a player outside the top 50 in 41 meetings at the US Open. He finished with 77 unforced errors and 10 double faults. Jain monk Tarun Sagar passed away on Saturday at Delhi’s Radhapuri temple after a prolonged illness. He was 51. He was popularly known for his sermons titled ‘ Kadve Pravachan’. He regularly spoke on contemporary socio- political issues like female foeticide, politicians with criminal records, terrorism, Pakistan, among others. In September 2017, news agency report, the Jain monk has demanded an investigation into the wealth amassed by self- styled godmen in India. “Every third godmen in India is a fraud,” he had said. Guerrilla leader Jalaluddin Haqqani, a one- time CIA asset, who went on to found the militant group the ‘ Haqqani’ has died after years of illness, the Afghan Taliban said. Haqqani was a renowned “jihadi” figure in Afghanistan, and used his Arabic language skills, to foster close ties with the Taliban and the Al- Qaeda. He became a minister in the Taliban regime which took power in Afghanistan in 1996, one of the only major mujahideen leaders to join the group.