There are only four women judges in the Supreme Court against the total sanctioned strength of 34 and 83 women are judges in high courts against the sanctioned strength of 1,098, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said in the Rajya Sabha.
The minister informed that the appointment of judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts is made under Articles 124, 217 and 224 of the Constitution and that it does not provide for caste/class reservations. Rijiju said that he has been supporting the idea of encouraging the appointment of women and persons from backward classes, Scheduled Castes (SC) or Scheduled Tribes (ST).
Rijiju claims that the numbers aren’t a reflection of the government deliberately holding up someone’s appointment process. “The government has to take due diligence while appointing judges because while appointing judges, we have to ensure that he is fit to be a judge in the court. This is very important. And then, all the cases which come to us have to go through a process,” he said.
As per PTI reports, Rijiju said a few names of women judges are with the Collegium in the Supreme Court and a few with the government at different stages of the process.
“This is a well-established process as per the Memorandum of Procedure. We don't make any delay on our part just because we don't want to make any kind of judgement on our own while appointing the judges, but only to look after the issue of appointing only qualified judges,” he concluded.