On the last working day of the outgoing CJI Ranjan Gogoi, who is set to retire on November 17, 2019, expressed,
“Although I won’t be a formal part of this extraordinary and much respected institution any longer but a part of me will always remain with it and will always wish the best for it.”
The CJI, however, did not give any speech in the farewell accorded to him. The official message jotted down by the CJi was read by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) at the farewell. His note read,
“It provided me an opportunity to contribute to the institution which I tried to serve to the best of my abilities. I have tried to address pressing issues of the justice delivery system.”
He also declined press interview and asserted that his institution does not allow reaching the citizenry through the media. He said,
“As a public functionary the idea of courting the press never endeared itself as a choice in the interest of my Institution. It is not the requirement of our Institution, for Judges to reach to our citizenry through the press. The Bench requires its Judges to maintain silence, while exercising their freedoms,”
I chose to belong to an institution whose strength lay in public confidence and trust earned not through the good press, but through our work as Judge, he added.
He, however, lauded the press for the maturity it has showed at various occasions and said,
“Even during trying times, most members of press displayed maturity and character and exercised exceptional discretion to prevent canards and falsehood from clogging the news space. To me, those were the time when the stellar role of journalists as defenders of truth and democratic ideals came to the fore.”
(Source: ANI)
