Pawar cites Gogoi's remarks against post-retirement appointment to take jibe at RS nomination

NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday cited Ranjan Gogoi's remarks against post-retirement appointments last year to take a swipe at the former Chief Justice of India over his Rajya Sabha nomination.

Pawar said institutions are being attacked and the situation for the judiciary was no different.

"I read in a newspaper that a former CJI had observed, 'There is a strong viewpoint that post-retirement appointment is a scar on independence of judiciary'. This statement was by Justice Gogoi. Now we read that his way to Parliament has been cleared," Pawar said.

He made the remarks at the launch of Bhalchandra Mungekar's book "My Encounters in Parliament" in the presence of former vice president Hamid Ansari, CPI general secretary D Raja and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury.

Pawar also cited Justice Deepak Gupta's remarks to make his point.

Justice Gupta stated one cannot expect justice from those who, on the verge of retirement, throng the corridors of power looking for post retirement assignments, Pawar said.

"We hear about the state of the judiciary from the representatives of the judiciary themselves," he said.

Pawar said even the media sector is under constant scrutiny of the government and if somebody expresses views against the government they are given a message that what they have done is not right.

The independence of the media is under strain, he alleged.

A row erupted on Tuesday over Gogoi's nomination to Rajya Sabha with the Congress and other Opposition parties alleging that the "brazen action" by the government subsumes the independence of the judiciary.

Gogoi, who retired in November last year, said he would speak in detail about accepting the nomination after he takes oath.