President Ram Nath Kovind has nominated Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi as a member of the Upper House (Rajya Sabha) on March 16, 2020. Justice Gogoi had retired from office on November 17, 2019.
Facts
Justice Gogoi is the first former Chief Justice of India to become a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha.
He is also the second Chief Justice of India to become a Rajya Sabha MP after justice Ranganath Misra. Misra was elected as a Congress MP from Odisha. Justice Misra, however, became a Rajya Sabha member in 1998, nearly seven years after his retirement from the Supreme Court in November 1991.
Baharul Islam was elected to the Rajya Sabha on a Congress ticket in 1962 and 1968. However, he resigned from Parliament in 1972 to become a judge of the Gauhati High Court. Islam retired in 1980, but once Indira Gandhi came back to power, he was sent to the Supreme Court as a judge.
In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-clause (a) of clause (1) of article 80 of the Constitution of India, read with clause (3) of that article, the President of India nominated Shri Ranjan Gogoi to the Council of States to fill the vacancy caused due to the retirement of one of the nominated members.
About Nominated Members
Under article 80 of the Constitution, the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) is composed of not more than 250 members, of whom 12 are nominated by the President of India from amongst persons who have special knowledge or practical experience in respect of such matters as literature, science, art and social service.
By adopting the principle of nomination in Rajya Sabha, the Constitution has ensured that the nation must also receive services of the most distinguished persons of the country who have earned distinction in their field of activity, many of whom may not like to face the rough and tumble of the election
