11.3.22

20 women HC judges’ appointment delayed: CJI

On International Day of Women Judges, CJI N V Ramana complained about chronic delay in judges’ appointment to constitutional courts and gave it an occasion-specific spin by saying that the Centre is sitting over recommendations for appointing 20 women as high court judges.

Confessing that his approach has been moulded by strong influences of his mother, wife and two daughters, he said, “We have marched to a stage where women are in a position to compete with men in every walk of life. All that they need is the right opportunity to showcase their skills. . . We are still far away from ensuring at least 50% representation of women in our judiciary. The legal profession still remains male dominated, with severe under-representation of women.”

Referring to efforts fructifying in appointment of three women as Supreme Court judges during his tenure as CJI, Justice Ramana said, “For the high courts, we (the SC Collegium) have recommended 192 candidates so far. Out of these, 37, that is 19%, were women. This is certainly an improvement over the percentage of incumbent women judges in high courts which stands at 11.8%. Unfortunately, so far, only 17 of the 37 women recommended to high courts were appointed. ”

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