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.
Early life and education Ranjan Gogoi was born in a Tai-Ahom family with his family residence at the K.C. Gogoi Path in Dibrugarh on 18 November 1954. His mother's family ancestry can be traced back to Ahom Kings Swargadeo Rudra Singha, Rajeswar Singha of the Ahom kingdom. His father was Keshab Chandra Gogoi, an Indian National Congress politician who was the Chief Minister of Assam from 13 January 1982 to 19 March 1982. Keshab Chandra Gogoi also was an MLA from Dibrugarh, as well as being a cabinet minister multiple times over his political career. His mother was Shanti Gogoi, who was a social activist and writer. She founded the Socio Educational Welfare Association (SEWA), an NGO which aimed to help marginalised communities, and was its president from 2002 to 2016. She was an aunt of Shrinjan Rajkumar Gohain.
Both his maternal grandparents Jogesh Chandra Borgohain and Padma Kumari Gohain were legislators and ministers in pre-and post-Independence India. His maternal grandfather, Jogesh Chandra Borgohain, served as a Member of the Assam Legislative Council in the 1930s. His maternal grandmother, Padma Kumari Gohain, was elected an MLA from Moran for three terms and was the social welfare minister in the Bimala Prasad Chaliha cabinet and social welfare and sericulture minister in the Mahendra Mohan Choudhry cabinet.
Gogoi was the second child and second son among five children. Each of his four siblings became proficient in their respective careers. His elder brother, Anjan, became an Air Marshal in the Indian Air Force until his retirement in 2013 and later became a member of the North Eastern Council. His younger brother, Nirjan, became a consultant urologist in the United Kingdom and his two younger sisters, Indira and Nandita, were members of the Assam civil service until their retirement. His elder brother, Anjan, served as the President of SEWA after their mother's retirement in 2016. His younger sister, Nandita, is the current President of SEWA.
During Gogoi's childhood in Dibrugarh with his brother Anjan, his father Keshab Chandra Gogoi said only one of them could go to the Sainik School in Goalpara. As both Ranjan and Anjan wanted to go, and with neither relenting, Keshab Chandra Gogoi told them to decide via a coin toss. Anjan won the coin toss, and went to the Sainik School in 1964, then to the National Defence Academy which eventually culminated in his career in the Indian Air Force.
Gogoi studied at Don Bosco Higher Secondary School, Dibrugarh, which was only a 20-minute walk away from his home. He then attended the Cotton College (currently known as Cotton University) in Guwahati before moving to Delhi to complete his higher studies. He then studied at St. Stephen's College, Delhi, graduating with honours in history. After completing his bachelor's degree, Gogoi cracked the Civil Services Examination to fulfil his father's wish. However, he was not chosen for the service he wanted, which led to his pursuit of law instead. Later on, he told his father his interest lay in pursuing law. He graduated from the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi where he received a law degree.
In 1982, the future Law Minister Abdul Muhib Mazumder asked Keshab Chandra Gogoi if his son would also become the Chief Minister of Assam someday. Keshab Chandra Gogoi said his son Ranjan Gogoi would not emulate him, but had the potential to become the Chief Justice of India. His father's assessment proved prophetic. His elder brother Anjan Gogoi confirmed this anecdote in an interview with the Times of India.
Early career and high court (1978–2012)
Gauhati High Court Gogoi enrolled at the bar in 1978, and practised at the Gauhati High Court under senior advocate JP Bhattacharjee. His autobiography, Justice for the Judge, said this was due to his father, Keshab Chandra Gogoi, asking for the most esteemed lawyer in Gauhati to take Ranjan Gogoi as a junior. In 1991, he began to practise independently on constitutional, taxation, services and company matters, after Bhattacharjee moved to Kolkata. Gogoi became extremely well known due to his contribution in making Tezpur Mental Hospital an actual research institution. He again rose to prominence after representing then Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in an investigation by the CBI into a letter-of-credit scandal. In 1999, he became a senior counsel at the High Court. He was made a permanent judge of the Gauhati High Court on 28 February 2001. During his tenure at the Gauhati High Court, he decided to combine similar cases at the court and hear them together. Around 10,000 cases of the education department of Assam were resolved in this way. The Supreme Court Collegium undertook a policy where a senior High Court judge, who is due to become the chief justice of another High Court, should be transferred to the High Court before the retirement of the incumbent chief justice. Following this policy, Gogoi was transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court on 9 September 2010.
Punjab and Haryana High Court Gogoi became the acting Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on 3 January 2011, after the retirement of Mukul Mudgal. He was sworn in as the Chief Justice on 12 February 2011 by Governor Jagannath Pahadia at Raj Bhavan, Haryana. Several dignitaries were present at the ceremony, including Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Shivraj Patil and Parkash Singh Badal.
During his tenure at the Punjab and Haryana High Court, he made several judgements. In November 2010, a division bench of Gogoi and then Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal questioned the CBI on the promotion of SPS Rathore, despite the pending Ruchika Girhotra case against him. In 2011, Gogoi was on a division bench which was to hear a PIL into the case, but the case was later referred to another bench. On 27 January 2011, while acting chief justice, Gogoi was part of a division bench that ordered all private schools to keep 15% of their places vacant for the economically weaker sections in society, until 24 February 2011 (when the case was heard again). On 14 March 2011, Gogoi was part of a division bench that directed that the Camelot project was in the catchment area of the Sukhna Lake. On 22 April 2011, Gogoi was part of a bench that ordered that women are allowed to claim maternity leave benefits for the birth of their third child, while allowing a petition from a multipurpose health worker in Haryana. On 22 March 2012, Gogoi was on a division bench that ordered that the schedule of the user fees of the Pinjore-Parwanoo bypass be published in an official gazette and notified in the newspapers. On the 5 April, the bench ordered authorities to open the bypass by 6 April, which put an end to the delay in its opening.
Judge of the supreme court (2012–2018)
Tenure On 23 April 2012, he was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court. He was sworn in as a justice of the Supreme Court of India by Chief Justice S. H. Kapadia. Many dignitaries were present, as well as Gogoi's mother, Shanti Priya Gogoi, and elder brother Anjan.
In October 2014, Gogoi praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan campaign. He spoke on the matter while addressing an event for the fourth foundation day of the National Green Tribunal.