Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who took over as the 46th Chief Justice of India on Wednesday, did some plain speaking on his first day in office, telling the lawyers that fresh parameters would be worked out for urgent mentioning of the matters for hearing.
The CJI also came out with a new roster allocating cases to various benches and decided that the Public Interest Litigation matters will be heard by him and a Bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur, who is next in seniority to him.
Justice Gogoi was administered oath of office by President Ramnath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday morning after which he attended the court and sat with Justice SK Kaul and KM Joseph in court number 1, the CJI’s court.
“No urgent mentioning of cases will be allowed”, except in matters like execution of death penalty and eviction till “parameters” are laid down for them, the CJI said. “We will work out the parameters, then we will see as to how mentioning will be done,” he told lawyers led by Prashant Bhushan.
The Bench, also comprising Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph, was told by Bhushan that some Rohingya refugees were on the verge of being deported and the matter required urgent hearing.
Making an exception he said, “If somebody is going to be hanged tomorrow, then we can understand (urgency).”
The Supreme Court website showed the roster of the work for fresh cases notified under the order of the Chief Justice of India with effect from October 3 till further orders. The CJI has decided to keep with himself the PIL and the petitions based on the letters received.
The Bench headed by him will also deal with the matters relating to social justice, elections, company law, Monopoly and Restricted Trade Practices, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Security Exchange Board of India, Insurance and Reserve Bank of India.
Justice Gogoi has also kept with himself matters concerning arbitration, habeas corpus, criminal cases, contempt of court and ordinary civil matters. His Bench will also deal with the issues relating to the appointment of Constitutional functionaries, statutory appointments and appointment of other law officers.
Besides the matters pertaining to the judicial officers and Commissions of Enquiry, would also be allocated before the Bench headed by the CJI.