In a first, 3-judge committee to probe plaint against CJI

NEW DELHI: In a precedent-setting decision, a panel of three Supreme Court judges headed by Justice SA Bobde will inquire into a dismissed junior court assistant's allegation of sexual harassment against CJI Ranjan Gogoi, who has refuted them strongly and suggested that a bigger force was behind the charges.

Appointment of the inquiry panel also comprising Justices NV Ramana and Indira Banerjee was ratified by the full court meeting - a deliberation of all SC judges. The Justice Bobde-led panel on Tuesday issued notices to the complainant and SC secretary general Sanjeev Kalgaonkar and asked them to be present before it on Friday, the first hearing on the complaint.

The panel has asked Kalgaonkar to come with all records relating to the dismissed woman employee and her places of posting during her four-year employment in the apex court. The full court meeting unanimously agreed that it was necessary to set up an inquiry panel of three judges to clear the air after the controversy over the sexual harassment complaint.


This will be the first time in the 69-year-old history of the SC that a sexual harassment complaint against the head of the judiciary would be inquired into by a panel of three SC judges. Justice Bobde is next in seniority to the CJI and will succeed him on November 18. Justice Ramana will become CJI on April 24, 2021, on Justice Bobde's retirement. Justice Banerjee was appointed as an SC judge on August 7 last year.

Justice Bobde has been entrusted by CJI Gogoi since April 20 with the task of taking decisions relating to the sexual harassment complaint. His decision to probe the complaint appears to meet the demands by SC Bar Association (SCBA) and SC Advocates on Record Association (SCAORA) that there should be an in-house probe by a panel of SC judges.

However, no deadline was assigned to the Justice Bobde-headed panel to complete the inquiry. Justices Bobde and Ramana refused to speak on the issue.

With the first hearing of the panel scheduled for Friday, it is likely that the inquiry committee could complete its task before the court closes for summer vacations on May 10.

The CJI had on Saturday feared that the complaint was the handiwork of a larger force and was intended to impinge the independence of judiciary. A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Sanjiv Khanna had on Saturday requested the media to exercise restraint and wisdom in reporting the sexual harassment complaint. The CJI pointed to the criminal record of the complainant since 2011.

Justice Bobde had set up the special bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra, R F Nariman and Deepak Gupta which on Tuesday heard the case suo motu and issued notice to a lawyer who had made sensational charges about a “gang of fixers” trying to defame the CJI.

On November 12, 2013, the SC had last set up a panel of three judges — Justices R M Lodha, H L Dattu and Ranjana Prakash — to inquire into alleged sexual harassment charges levelled by a law intern against former SC judge AK Ganguly. The panel, in its report on November 29, 2013, had found the allegations prima facie true. The inhouse inquiry procedure for judges provides for inquiry against judges of SC and HCs but not against the CJI.