New Delhi: “The country needs fighter jets. The country needs teachers. The country needs a lot of things but sadly, we have limited time.” This statement was made by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi before rising for the day after hearing politically sensitive cases — Ayodhya and Rafale — on Wednesday.
He made the remarks when a lawyer tried to mention a matter on teachers’ recruitment at the fag end of the day, before adjourning the hearing in the Rafale case to March 14. The CJI on Wednesday sat with the bench of judges of three combination. Justice Gogoi first sat in the bench, also comprising Justices A K Sikri and S A Bobde. Justice Sikri was part of the bench as it was his last working day in the Supreme Court. It is a custom in the apex court that the retiring judge on last day in office sits with the CJI-led bench.
After the exchange of greetings from the Bar and handling of few matters, the three judges retired to their chambers. Later, the CJI sat in a new combination of judges which was a five-judge constitution bench to hear the politically sensitive Ayodhya land dispute case. The hearing went for an hour and after reserving the order, the CJI along with his companion judges — Justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S A Nazeer rose.
The CJI then headed a three-judge bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Jospeh to hear the politically sensitive Rafale jet deal case. The hearing in the pre-lunch session lasted for around 45 minutes and again reassembled in the post-lunch session to hear it till 1600 hours.
