Justice Ranjan Gogoi assumes office on October 3. (File)
President Ram Nath Kovind today appointed Justice Ranjan Gogoi as the next Chief Justice of India. He will take office on October 3.
Justice Gogoi has been appointed as the 46th Chief Justice of India, a Law Ministry notification said. He is the first judge from the northeast to be appointed as the Chief Justice.
The appointment comes nearly a week after his predecessor Dipak Misra wrote to the government recommending him as his successor. Chief Justice Misra retires a day before, but since October 2 is a holiday, October 1 will be his last working day.
It is convention for the law ministry to write to the Chief Justice asking for his recommendation on the man who will replace him.
Justice Gogoi is known to be a soft-spoken but tough judge. He was among the four judges who, in January, criticised Chief Justice Misra in a rare press conference and accused him of misusing his role of assigning cases as the Supreme Court's Master of the Roster.
Born on November 18, 1954, Justice Gogoi was enrolled as an advocate in 1978. He practised in the Gauhati High Court on constitutional, taxation and company matters. He was appointed as a Permanent Judge of the Gauhati High Court on February 28, 2001. He was transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court on September 9, 2010.
He was appointed as Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court on February 12, 2011. He was elevated to the Supreme Court on April 23, 2012.
His tenure as the Chief Justice Of India will last till November 2019.