New Delhi: Questions requested: zero. Personal member’s payments offered: zero. Debate participation: one. Common attendance: 53 %. That, in a nutshell, is the Rajya Sabha efficiency of Ranjan Gogoi, the previous Chief Justice of India who completes his six-year tenure within the Higher Home of Parliament subsequent month.

In line with information compiled by PRS Legislative Analysis—a Delhi-based non-government analysis organisation—until 13 February 2026, Justice (Retired) Gogoi’s common parliamentary attendance of about 53 % over six years is way decrease than the typical 80 % attendance of Rajya Sabha MPs. 

“It’s due to the Home having witnessed disruptions for one cause or the opposite. It’s only of late that the query hour and the zero hour within the Rajya Sabha is being held in a significant method.”

Gogoi retired from the Supreme Court docket in November 2019 after serving because the nation’s prime choose for round 13 months. Barely six months after his retirement, he was nominated to the Higher Home, changing into the primary former CJI to have been nominated to Rajya Sabha.

Because the CJI, he headed the Structure bench that delivered the landmark judgment within the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri mosque title dispute in Ayodhya.

In his six years as a nominated MP, the previous CJI has not requested a single query within the Higher Home or launched any non-public member’s invoice, as per information offered by PRS and Rajya Sabha information. 

He additionally has no ‘particular mentions’ to his account, which MPs make on issues of public significance.

Requested about it, he advised ThePrint, “Additionally, I didn’t ask questions for the sake of asking questions. I didn’t take part within the proceedings for the sake of participation as a result of I’m not an expert politician who must make a mark for an increase in profession politics.”

He went on to say, “However there are a number of different areas the place I’ve contributed being a member of Parliament like addressing international delegations, heads of mission, regulation imposing companies on assorted subjects beginning with the evolution of the structure, its detailed provisions, its precise working, the function of the judiciary and the legislature underneath the structure.

“The conferences with the international delegations, heads of missions and regulation enforcement companies have been underneath the auspices of the institute of constitutional and parliamentary research headed by the Lok Sabha speaker.”

He added, “To the regulation enforcement companies I had addressed on the size of the three legal legal guidelines that had come into power and by regulation enforcement companies I imply that a part of the Delhi police who’re really on the bottom specifically inspectors and under.”

Explaining the rationale behind accepting his nomination to the Rajya Sabha, Gogoi had mentioned that he “accepted the provide of nomination to the Rajya Sabha due to a powerful conviction that the legislature and judiciary should, in some unspecified time in the future, work collectively for nation-building”.

“My presence in Parliament might be a chance to venture the views of the judiciary earlier than the legislature and vice-versa,” he had additional mentioned on the time.

In December 2021, Gogoi once more defended his resolution to take up the posting in his memoir Justice for the Decide. He defined that he accepted the nomination with out hesitation as a result of he needed to lift points pertaining to the judiciary and the Northeast area, to which he belongs.

Whereas the typical for a member collaborating in debates stands at 144, Gogoi has participated in merely one. 

The ex-CJI delivered his maiden and solely speech in Parliament in August 2023, greater than three years after being nominated to Rajya Sabha in March 2020. He participated within the dialogue on the Authorities of Nationwide Capital Territory of Delhi (Modification) Invoice, 2023. 

Supporting the invoice, Gogoi had mentioned, “In my respectful submission, the invoice is completely legitimate. The place in my notion is that this—the state legislature makes legal guidelines for the states, Parliament makes legal guidelines for the Union territories. For NCT of Delhi, the legislature makes legal guidelines on state topics besides three. By advantage of 239AA(3)(b), Parliament has the ability to border legal guidelines past these three.” 

“That’s precisely what the invoice is searching for to do. Due to this fact, there is no such thing as a query of overreaching (SC order). As a layman, it isn’t subjudice, what’s pending earlier than the SC is the validity of the Ordinance and particularly two questions referred to the Structure Bench, and has nothing to do with what’s being mentioned within the Home,” he added. 

When Gogoi delivered his maiden speech, a number of girls leaders from opposition events staged a walkout over sexual harassment allegations in opposition to him. The Supreme Court docket had cleared him of any wrongdoing in 2019. 

In April 2019, a former junior courtroom officer had alleged that she was sexually harassed by Gogoi. A 3-member in-house committee of the Supreme Court docket, led by Justice S.A. Bobde (since retired), unanimously cleared him of the sexual harassment expenses.

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The Rajya Sabha numbers

In line with PRS information, Gogoi’s attendance within the 2026 price range session stood at 50 %, whereas it was 80 % in the course of the 2025 winter session, and 81 % within the Monsoon Session earlier than that. His attendance in the course of the 2025 price range session was 85 %, whereas it was 58 % in the course of the 2024 winter session. 

Going additional again, it was simply 12 % within the monsoon session of 2021, 4 % within the price range session that yr, and 67 % within the price range session of 2020. 

“Out of the wage acquired as a Rajya Sabha member amongst different issues I had created a scholarship fund and have taken care of the authorized training of over 50 college students for a interval of 3-4 years for now. Not a penny of this ‘earnings’ has been utilized by me for my private wants,” Gogoi advised ThePrint.

Whereas his attendance did rise up to now few periods, he made no important intervention similar to asking questions or collaborating in debates. The nationwide common for a Rajya Sabha MP relating to asking questions stands at round 261 over a six-year time period. Gogoi didn’t submit any questions or non-public member’s payments, in line with the info. 

From October 2024 onwards, he has been a member of the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Legislation and Justice. Earlier than that, in September 2024, he was made a member of the Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Legislation and Justice. 

Between September 2021 and Might 2022 he was a member of the Committee on Communications and Data Expertise. As a part of the committee on communications too, the place Gogoi served for eight months, he didn’t attend a single assembly, in line with Rajya Sabha information. 

In 2021, Gogoi justified his absence from Rajya Sabha on account of Covid, and later mentioned as a nominated member he’s an unbiased member, not ruled by any social gathering whip. 

Summing up his tenure as a member of the Higher Home, Gogoi advised ThePrint, “My expertise within the Rajya Sabha has been fantastic. It’s a uncommon expertise for a former member of the judiciary. I feel there are a number of good practices within the Rajya Sabha which the judiciary can significantly think about adopting.

“Given the circumstances, I imagine I’ve finished my finest however because the saying goes one might have at all times finished higher.”

(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)

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Additionally Learn: Why judges with post-retirement jobs solely criticised, why not ‘activist judges’: Ex-CJI Gogoi

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