New Delhi: With his appointment as Governor of Andhra Pradesh Sunday, Justice Abdul Nazeer has joined former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Ashok Bhushan in being awarded a plum post-retirement posting.
The three judges were part of the five-judge Constitution bench which had in November 2019 pronounced a unanimous verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case, awarding ownership of the disputed 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya to the temple trust.
Justice Ashok Bhushan, who retired in July 2021, was made the chairperson of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal in November 2021. Gogoi, who demitted office in November 2019, was nominated a member of the Rajya Sabha just months later, in March 2020. Justice Nazeer has now got a posting, 40 days after his retirement.
When it comes to post-retirement postings, Justice Gogoi has held one for the longest time among the three retired judges. But the former CJI’s performance in Parliament has not been impressive.
The Rajya Sabha MP has notched up an average parliamentary attendance of just 29 per cent over three years, in comparison to the 79 per cent average attendance of MPs.
On his appointment to the Upper House, Gogoi had told a news channel: “I have accepted the offer of nomination to the Rajya Sabha because of strong conviction that the legislature and judiciary must, at some point of time, work together for nation-building. My presence in Parliament will be an opportunity to project the views of the judiciary before the legislature and vice-versa.”
In December 2021, Gogoi had again defended his decision to take up the posting in his memoir Justice for the Judge, explaining that he had accepted the nomination without hesitation since he wanted to raise issues pertaining to the judiciary and the north-east region, to which he belongs.
The Constitution provides that the President of India can nominate to the Rajya Sabha 12 people having special knowledge, or practical experience in respect of literature, science, art and social service.
But in three years and eight Rajya Sabha sessions since his nomination, the former CJI has not asked a single question in the Upper House, neither has he participated in any discussion, nor put up any private member’s bill, according to Parliament records.
ThePrint reached Gogoi on phone for comment, but received no response till the time of publication of this report.
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‘I go there by choice’
According to Rajya Sabha records, Gogoi has attended the ongoing budget session for six of 10 days till 13 February. In the previous budget session, he was in the House for just seven of 29 days.
Gogoi’s attendance has seen an uptick in the past few sessions, but without any significant intervention from his side in law-making.
Unlike other members, Gogoi has not asked any question — starred or unstarred — in the Upper House over the years. While starred questions are those in which answers are given orally, unstarred questions receive written replies.
He also has no ‘special mentions’ in his account, which are made by MPs on matters of public importance.
The former CJI has not participated in any debate, when the national average of such participation by MPs is 56.9.
Compare this to athlete PT Usha’s performance in Parliament. She was nominated in July 2022 and has had average attendance of 91 per cent over three sessions. She has also asked eight questions and participated in three debates in the three sessions.
Three years into the job, the former CJI, who took oath amid sloganeering by Opposition members, is yet to intervene on matters pertaining to the judiciary or the north-east.
In March 2022, the Rajya Sabha had discussed the working of the Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region, but Gogoi did not participate. In late 2021, the Upper House had discussed the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, during which many members flagged issues concerning the judiciary, such as social diversity, but here too the former CJI did not participate.
In an interview in December 2021, he had defended his absence from the Rajya Sabha saying “because of Covid, on medical advice, I am not attending the session”.
He had also said: “I go there by choice, I come out by choice. I am not governed by any party whip, I am an independent member.”
Soon after his nomination to the Upper House by the President, Gogoi was in July 2020 also appointed to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs. In 2021, he was put on the Standing Committee on Communications and IT.
Gogoi was renominated to the external affairs committee in September 2022, but “skipped all its nine meetings”, sources in the committee said.
As part of the committee on communications too, where Gogoi served for eight months, he did not attend a single meeting, according to Rajya Sabha records.
During this time, the committee discussed matters such as “safeguarding citizen rights and prevention of misuse of social and online news platforms” in which Gogoi’s participation could have been significant.
Lok Sabha MP N.K. Premachandran, who is also a member of the external affairs standing committee, told ThePrint: “He (Gogoi) has not attended any meeting. Nominated members have the same privilege as normal MPs and he should make his contribution as a parliamentarian. He has had a distinguished career.”
Another nominated Raya Sabha member, Ghulam Ali, told ThePrint that elected and nominated members enjoy the same privileges and said, “I have even participated in the Motion of Thanks, besides taking part in committee meetings”.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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