உயர்நீதிமன்றங்களில் யாருக்கு எவ்வளவு பிரதிநிதித்துவம்?
உயர்நீதிமன்றங்களில் நீதிபதிகளின் நியமனம் - வகுப்புவாரி பிரதிநிதித்துவம் - காலிப்பணியிடங்கள் எண்ணிக்கை - சட்ட அமைச்சகத்தின் பதில், நாள் : 28-11-2024
Appointment of Judges in High Courts - Caste Category Representation - Number of Vacancies - Ministry of Law's Reply, dated : 28-11-2024
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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 438
ANSWERED ON 28/11/2024
SOCIAL DIVERSITY IN HIGHER JUDICIARY
438. SHRI P. WILSON:
Will the Minister of Law and Justice be pleased to state:
(a) whether Government has included in memorandum of procedure proposed for appointment of High Court and Supreme Court judges, requirement of social diversity/reservations;
(b) details and number of SC,ST,OBC, forward caste, women and minority judges in all the High Courts and in Supreme Court as on 31.10.2024;
(c) reasons due to which the names of Ramasamy Neelakandan and John Sathyam have been kept pending despite being recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium on 17.01.2023 for appointment as judges of Madras High Court; and
(d) details of total number of vacancies in all High Courts for judges with total strength as on 31.10.2024?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE; AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS.
(SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL)
(a) to (d): Appointment of Judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts is made under Articles 124, 217 and 224 of the Constitution of India and according to the procedure laid down in the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) prepared in1998 pursuant to the Supreme Court Judgment of October 6, 1993 (Second Judges case) read with their Advisory Opinion of October 28, 1998 (Third Judges case), which do not provide for reservation for any caste or class of persons. Therefore, category-wise data pertaining to representation of SCs, STs and OBCs among the Judges of High Courts are not centrally maintained. However, since 2018, the recommendees for the post of High Court Judges are required to provide details regarding their social background in the prescribed format (prepared in consultation with the Supreme Court). Based on the information provided by the recommendees, out of 684 High Court Judges appointed since 2018,
21 belong to SC category, 14 belong to ST category, 82 belong to OBC category and 37 belong to Minorities. As on 31.10.2024, 02 women Judges are working in the Supreme Court and 106 in various High Courts.
2. As per the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP), the responsibility for initiation of proposals for appointment of Judges in the Supreme Court vests with the Chief Justice of India, while the responsibility for initiation of proposals for appointment of Judges in the High Courts vests with the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court, in consultation with two senior-most puisne Judges of the High Court. However, the Government has been requesting the Chief Justices of High Courts that while sending proposals for appointment of Judges, due consideration be given to suitable candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Minorities and Women to ensure social diversity in the appointment of Judges in High Courts.
3. As per the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP), the proposals recommended by the High Court Collegium for appointment as High Court Judges, are to be considered in light of such other reports/inputs as may be available to the Government for assessing the suitability in respect of the names under consideration.The Supreme Court in its Judgment dated 6.10.1993 in Supreme Court Advocates on Record Vs. Union of India (Second Judges Case) inter-alia observed that merit selection is the dominant method for judicial selections and the candidates to be selected must possess high integrity, honesty, skill, high order of emotional stability, firmness, serenity, legal soundness, ability and endurance.
4. Appointment of Judges in the higher judiciary is a continuous, integrated and collaborative process between the executive and the judiciary. It requires consultation and approval from various Constitutional Authorities both at State and Central level. The Government exercises its opinion on the recommendations made by the Supreme Court Collegium (SCC) by virtue of this collaborative process so as to ensure that most suitable and meritorious candidate is appointed to the esteemed post of a Judge in the Constitutional Courts. Only those persons are appointed as Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts whose names have been recommended by the SCC.
5. The sanctioned strength and vacancies of Judges in the High Courts as on 31.10.2024 is at Annexure.
*****
Annexure
Statement showing Sanctioned strength and Vacancies of Judges in the High Courts
(As on 31.10.2024)
Sl. No. High Court(s) Sanctioned Strength Vacancies
1 Allahabad 160 78
2 Andhra Pradesh 37 8
3 Bombay 94 25
4 Calcutta 72 29
5 Chhattisgarh 22 5
6 Delhi 60 23
7 Gauhati 30 6
8 Gujarat 52 20
9 Himachal Pradesh 17 6
10 J & K and Ladakh 25 10
11 Jharkhand 25 7
12 Karnataka 62 12
13 Kerala 47 2
14 Madhya Pradesh 53 18
15 Madras 75 8
16 Manipur 5 1
17 Meghalaya 4 0
18 Orissa 33 14
19 Patna 53 18
20 Punjab & Haryana 85 32
21 Rajasthan 50 18
22 Sikkim 3 0
23 Telangana 42 15
24 Tripura 5 0
25 Uttarakhand 11 5
Total 1122 360
The Constitution of India does not provide for caste-wise reservation for High Court judges, so the government does not maintain caste-wise data on High Court judges. However, since 2018, the government has collected social background information on High Court judge nominees. Here is some information on the caste of High Court judges appointed since 2018:
Caste
Number of judges
Scheduled Caste (SC)
21
Scheduled Tribe (ST)
12
Other Backward Class (OBC)
78
General
499
The government has also asked High Court Chief Justices to consider candidates from underrepresented groups, such as SCs, STs, OBCs, minorities, and women, when appointing judges.
Appajee Vardarajan was the first Scheduled Caste judge of the Madras High Court, serving from 1980–1985
