Ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi in Rajya Sabha: Zero questions, no private member Bill, ‘poor’ attendance

Like in the case of newly-appointed Governor Justice (retd) Nazeer, Oppn had also targeted Gogoi when he was nominated to Rajya Sabha

Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, who headed the Ayodhya Bench, was nominated to the Rajya Sabha on March 19, 2020, four months after his retirement.

Listen to this article

00:00

1x 1.5x 1.8x

The appointment of former Supreme Court judge Abdul Nazeer, who was part of the five-judge Constitution Bench that delivered the Ayodhya verdict, as the Andhra Pradesh Governor has drawn sharp criticism from the Opposition, including the Congress, which said such appointments were a “great diminution and a great threat to the independence of judiciary”.

Similar scenes had played out when former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, who headed the Ayodhya Bench, was nominated to the Rajya Sabha on March 19, 2020, four months after his retirement, with the Opposition targeting him.

When Gogoi was taking oath as a Rajya Sabha member, there was uproar in the Upper House amid the chants of “shame” by the Opposition members. At the time, his nomination had also drawn flak from some ex-Supreme Court judges.

Story continues below this ad

Read | SC judge to Andhra Pradesh Governor: S Abdul Nazeer was part of Ayodhya, triple talaq cases

Gogoi’s parliamentary track record as per the official Rajya Sabha portal shows that he has asked zero questions so far. He has also not introduced any private member Bill. The “My Participation” section — where the audio and video clips can be viewed — of the MP’s record on the portal says “no records found”.

He is part of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, the portal notes.

Gogoi’s attendance in the Rajya Sabha stands at just 30 per cent, as per the PRS Legislative Research. However, it is to be noted that attendance in Parliament is recorded through an attendance register that the MP has to sign. So, in theory, an MP might have attended a session without having signed the register on any day.

Session	Dates	Total Sittings	Sittings attended
Budget Session 2020	31/1/2020 to 3/04/20	34	2
Budget Session 2021	29/1/2021 to 25/3/21	33	1
Monsoon Session 2021	19/7/2021 to 11/8/21	17	1
Winter Session 2021	29/11/2021to 22/12/21	18	7
Budget Session 2022	31/1/2022 to 8/4/22	29	7
Monsoon Session 2022	18/7/2022 to 8/8/22	16	6
Winter Session 2022	7/12/22 to 23/12/22	13	7
Budget Session (Current)	31/1/2023 to 13/2/23; will reconvene on 13/3/23.	27	6

Magnitude 7.1 earthquake strikes near east coast of Russia’s Kamchatka region

World3 hr ago

A powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit near Russia's Kamchatka region on Saturday, according to the German Research Centre for Geosciences. The quake occurred at a depth of 10 km and was felt on the east coast.

View all shorts

Live Blog