GUWAHATI: A loss decades ago changed the destiny of Ranjan Gogoi , who was on Thursday appointed the next Chief Justice. When he and his elder brother were old enough to go to school, their father, former Assam CM Keshab Chandra Gogoi, said only one could attend Sainik School, Goalpara. The three tossed a coin to decide who would go to Sainik School. Anjan, the elder brother, won the toss, went to the Army school and rose to become Air Marshal.Ranjan went to Don Bosco School in Dibrugarh and later studied history at Delhi’s St Stephen’s. After college, he again agreed to his father’s wishes and appeared for the UPSC exam. “He cleared it, but was honest enough to tell father that his interest lay in taking up law,” Anjan said.Justice Gogoi will take charge on October 3, after the retirement of CJI Dipak Misra on October 2, and will remain in office till November 17, 2019. He will be the 46th CJI. Justice Gogoi, who will be the first CJI from the northeast, is known as a strict and no-nonsense judge and it was reflected when a bench headed by him had summoned former judge of the SC Markandey Katju for making controversial remarks against his judgment.The second of five siblings, Ranjan joined the Bar in 1978 and started practising in the Gauhati HC. In 2001, he was appointed permanent judge; 10 years later, he was CJ of Punjab and Haryana HC and was elevated as a SC judge in 2012.“You can’t predict the future but as his elder brother I can say he always showed signs of the path he was about to take. My brother would not cheat even in a game of marbles. If I tried to cheat, he would challenge me, ask me not to break rules,” Anjan told TOI.The signs only grew stronger over the years. “Had he gone to Sainik School, he would have reached far greater heights than I did. He was always the bright one,” Ranjan’s elder brother said.

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