Ranjan Gogoi is a former Indian Judge of the Supreme Court of India who served as the 46th Chief Justice of India for 13 months between 2018 and 2019. He was nominated to Rajya Sabha by President Ram Nath Kovind on 16 March 2020.
Ranjan Gogoi (born 18 November 1954)[6] is a former Indian Judge of the Supreme Court of India who served as the 46th Chief Justice of India for 13 months between 2018 and 2019.[7] He was nominated to Rajya Sabha by President Ram Nath Kovind on 16 March 2020.[8] He is the third Supreme Court judge to serve the Rajya Sabha, and the first to be nominated to his seat, after Ranganath Mishra and Baharul Islam, who were elected as members of the Indian National Congress.[9] The nomination by government and acceptance was highly criticized by former judges of the Supreme Court. Ranjan Gogoi was born in a Tai-Ahom family with family residence at the K.C. Gogoi Path in Dibrugarh.[11] Along with paternal family, the royal family of Tai-Ahom Chao Pha Purandar Singha can be traced back from his mother’s side.[12] His father is Kesab Chandra Gogoi, an Indian National Congress politician who served as Chief Minister of Assam for two months in 1982. His mother is Shanti Gogoi(1934-2021) a social activist and writer. Shanti Gogoi is aunt of Shrinjan Rajkumar Gohain.[13] Both his maternal grandparents Jogesh Chandra and Padma Kumari Gohain were legislators and ministers in pre-and post-Independence India.[14] Gogoi attended Don Bosco school in Dibrugarh and Cotton College (currently known as Cotton University) in Guwahati before moving to Delhi to complete his higher studies. He then studied at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, graduating with honours in history. After completing his bachelor’s degree, Gogoi cracked the Civil Services Examination to keep his father’s wish. He, later on, told his father that his interest lies in pursuing law instead. [15] He graduated from Faculty of Law, University of Delhi where he received a law degree.[16][17][18] In 1982, the then Law Minister Muhim Mazumdar asked Kesab Chandra Gogoi if his son would also become the Chief Minister of Assam someday. Mr Gogoi said his son Ranjan Gogoi would not emulate him, but had the potential to become the Chief Justice of India. The father’s assessment proved prophetic. [19]

Gogoi enrolled at the bar in 1978, and practiced at the Gauhati High Court, where he was made a Permanent Judge on 28 February 2001. He was transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court on 9 September 2010, becoming its Chief Justice on 12 February 2011. On 23 April 2012, he was elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court.[21][22]

On 3 October 2018, he was appointed as Chief Justice of India, succeeding Dipak Misra.[23]

President Ram Nath Kovind administering the oath of office to Justice Ranjan Gogoi, as Chief Justice of India, at a swearing-in ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on October 03, 2018
He was nominated as Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha on 16 March 2020 by President Ram Nath Kovind and took oath on 19 March 2020
Ayodhya dispute
On 9 November 2019, Ranjan Gogoi and four other Supreme Court judges (Justices Sharad Arvind Bobde, Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S. Abdul Nazeer) pronounced the verdict regarding the Ayodhya Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case.[44] After 40 days of daily hearings from 6 August, the five-judge bench unanimously decided in favour of awarding the land to the Hindu side to build a rama temple in the place.