Ranjan Gogoi

Ranjan Gogoi (born 18 November 1954) is an Indian jurist and advocate who served as the 46th Chief Justice of India from 2018 to 2019 and as a Member of the Rajya Sabha from 2020 to 2026. He previously served as a judge of the Supreme Court of India from 2012 to 2018. Gogoi was a judge of the Gauhati High Court from 2001 to 2010, and of the Punjab and Haryana High Court from September 2010 to February 2011 where he later was the Chief Justice from 2011 to 2012.

Born and raised in Dibrugarh, Gogoi is from a political family and descends from the Ahom dynasty. His maternal grandparents were both state legislators; his grandmother, Padma Kumari Gohain, was one of the first female MLAs and one of the first female ministers in Assam. His father, Keshab Chandra Gogoi served as the Chief Minister of Assam for two months in 1982. Ranjan Gogoi is the only Chief Justice of India to have been the son of a Chief Minister. His mother, Shanti Priya Gogoi, was a prominent social activist who founded an NGO, SEWA, in 2000. One of five children, Gogoi's four siblings also rose to prominence in their respective careers, most notably his elder brother, Anjan, who served as an Air Marshal in the Indian Air Force. Gogoi studied at Cotton University and later completed his higher studies at the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi. He enrolled at the bar in 1978 and practised at the Gauhati High Court under advocate JP Bhattacharjee. Gogoi began to practise independently in 1991 and became a senior counsel in 1999 at the court, before being appointed a judge in 2001. He later transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, where during his tenure he made orders which questioned the CBI’s promotion of SPS Rathore, despite the Ruchika Girhotra case, as well as numerous other judgements.

Gogoi was nominated to the Supreme Court in 2012 and was sworn in by S. H. Kapadia. He made various important judgements during his tenure including the updating of the National Register of Citizens for Assam, and the Soumya Murder case. He also served on the bench that created special courts to try MLAs and MPs, and ruled against the Uttar Pradesh Government law wherein former Chief Ministers were allowed to occupy government bungalows. Gogoi made further notable judgements in Orissa Mining Corporation v. Ministry of Environment & Forest & Others and on the income of Amitabh Bachchan. He imposed restrictions on the featuring of certain politicians in government advertisements, and made further judgements related to arbitration practices. Gogoi was appointed the Chief Justice of India (CJI) in 2018, the first holder of the office from Northeast India. As Chief Justice, he struck down rules under the Finance Act 2017, and also brought the office of CJI under the Right to Information Act. Gogoi also made landmark judgments in his final month in office, including the judgement on the Ayodhya dispute and the Rafale deal, before retiring in 2019. In 2020 he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, and served on the committee on communications and information technology, and the committee on external affairs, before he retired in 2026.

A pivotal and instrumental figure in Indian judicial history, Gogoi's legacy is the subject of scholarly debate amongst sources. Some regard him as one of the greatest and most influential Chief Justices in Indian history; he has been accredited with delivery on landmark judgements, most prominently the 134-year-old Ayodhya dispute, and institutional reforms. Under Gogoi's recommendation, the Supreme Court composition increased from 31 to 34 judges, its highest ever level in history. His September 2019 reforms to reduce pendency led to single-judge Supreme Court benches being held the following year for the first time in seven decades. Conversely, his nomination to Parliament sparked national debate over judicial independence. As a Judge, he was known for his "no-nonsense" approach and advocacy for greater judicial transparency and reduction in case pendency. Gogoi is the third Supreme Court judge to serve in the Rajya Sabha, after Ranganath Misra and Baharul Islam, and the first to be nominated to his seat. He published his autobiography, Justice for the Judge, in 2021, and was awarded the Assam Baibhav, the state's highest civilian award, for 2023. The Indian Express named him as the country's third most powerful person of 2019, behind only Amit Shah and Narendra Modi.