Lok Sabha Question No. 3267 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-05
Subject: Representation of Women in Judiciary
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: V. Kalanidhi, Janardan Singh Sigriwal, Anumula Revanth Reddy, Sanjay(Kaka) Ramchandra Patil, Pashupati Nath Singh, Geetha Viswanath Vanga, Sanjeev Kumar Singari, Ritesh Pandey

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW & JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3267 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 05 TH  AUGUST, 2022

## REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN JUDICIARY

## 3267. DR. KALANIDHI VEERASWAMY:

- SHRI JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL:
- SHRI ANUMULA REVANTH REDDY:
- SHRI SANJAY KAKA PATIL:
- SHRI PASHUPATI NATH SINGH:
- SHRIMATI VANGA GEETHA VISWANATH:
- DR. SANJEEV KUMAR SINGARI:

SHRI RITESH PANDEY:

## Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  has  fixed  any  percentage  of  women  as  judges  in  the
- country and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the representation of women judges in the lower, district and higher level of judiciary is very low as compared to men and if so, the details thereof along with their percentage of the total number of judges at present in the country and reasons
- therefor, State/UT-wise;
- (c)  whether taking serious note of low representation of women in different level of judiciary in the country, the Government is considering reserving 50 percent seat in law  schools/colleges  to  increase  their  representation  in  the  judiciary  and  if  so,  the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (d)  the  details  of  steps  taken  by  the  Government  since  2014  to  increase  the representation  of  women  in  the  judiciary  and  by  their  enhanced  inclusion,  a sustainable improvement in the justice delivery system?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE (SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

(a) & (b): Appointment of Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts is made under Articles 124, 217 and 224 of the Constitution of India, which do not provide reservation for any caste or class of persons. Hence no caste/category wise data is maintained centrally. In the  present  system  of  appointment  of  Judges  to  the  constitutional  courts  through  the Collegium system, the onus to provide social diversity and representation to all sections of the  society  including  SC/ST/OBC/Women/  Minorities  primarily  falls  on  the  Judiciary. Government cannot appoint any person as a High Court Judge who is not recommended by the High Court Collegium/ Supreme Court Collegium.

As  on  29.07.2022,  04  women  Judges  out  of  32  Judges  in  Supreme  Court  and  96 women Judges are working out of the working strength of 729 Judges, across various High Courts in the country. The detail is annexed as Annexure-I.

Under Article 235 of the Constitution of India, the administrative control over the members of district and subordinate judiciary in the States vest with the concerned High Court.  Further,  in  exercise  of  powers  conferred  under  proviso  to  Article  309  read  with Articles 233 and 234 of the constitution, the respective State Government, in consultation with the High Court, frames the Rules and Regulations regarding the issue of appointment, promotion,  reservations  and  retirement  of  Judicial  Officers  in  the  State  Judicial  Service. Hence, in so far as recruitment of judicial  officers  in  the  States  is  concerned,  respective High  Courts  do  it  in  certain  States,  while  in  other  states,  the  High  Courts  do  it  in consultation with the State Public Service Commissions.

However, the Government remains committed to social diversity in the appointment of Judges in the Higher Judiciary and 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 appointment of Judges in High Courts.  The details of working strength of women judges in District & Subordinate Courts is at Annexure-II.

(c) & (d): The National Level Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is conducted by the  consortium  of  NLUs  for  the  admission  to  5-year  integrated  LLB.    30%  horizontal reservation shall be applicable to Female candidates in National Law Universities set up under the respective State Legislation.  The Union Government does not have a role under the Constitution in the selection and appointment of judicial officers in District/ subordinate judiciary. The Supreme Court, in its orders of 04 th January, 2007 in Malik Mazhar case, has devised  a  process  and  time  frame  to  be  followed  for  the  filling  up  of  vacancies  in subordinate  judiciary  which  stipulates  that  the  process  for  recruitment  of  judges  in  the subordinate  courts  would  commence  on  31st  March  of  a  calendar  year  and  end  by  31st October  of  the  same  year.  The  Supreme  Court  has  permitted  State  Governments  /  High Courts for variations in the time schedule in case of any difficulty based on the peculiar geographical and climatic conditions in the State or other relevant conditions.

Further, in compliance of the above directions of the Supreme Court, Department of Justice forwarded a copy of the Malik Mazhar judgement to Registrars General of all High Courts for necessary action. Department of Justice is writing from time to time to Registrars General of all High Courts to expedite the filling up of vacancies in subordinate judiciary mandated by Malik Mazhar case.

*******

Annexure-I STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) & (B) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3267 FOR ANSWER ON 05.08.2022 REGARDING

## 'REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN JUDICIARY'.

.

| S. No.   | Name of the Court   | 25.07.2022   |
|----------|---------------------|--------------|
| A.       | Supreme Court       | 04           |
| B.       | High Court          |              |
| 1        | Allahabad           | 05           |
| 2        | Andhra Pradesh      | 04           |
| 3        | Bombay              | 08           |
| 4        | Calcutta            | 07           |
| 5        | Chhattisgarh        | 01           |
| 6        | Delhi               | 12           |
| 7        | Gauhati             | 02           |
| 8        | Gujarat             | 06           |
| 9        | Himachal Pradesh    | 02           |
| 10       | J &Kand Ladakh      | 02           |
| 11       | Jharkhand           | 01           |
| 12       | Karnataka           | 05           |
| 13       | Kerala              | 06           |
| 14       | Madhya Pradesh      | 03           |
| 15       | Madras              | 12           |
| 16       | Manipur             | 00           |
| 17       | Meghalaya           | 00           |
| 18       | Orissa              | 01           |
| 19       | Patna               | 00           |
| 20       | Punjab &Haryana     | 07           |
| 21       | Rajasthan           | 02           |
| 22       | Sikkim              | 01           |
| 23       | Telangana           | 09           |
| 24       | Tripura             | 00           |
| 25       | Uttarakhand         | 00           |
|          | Total (B)           | 96           |

## Annexure-II STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) & (B) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3267 FOR ANSWER ON 05.08.2022 REGARDING

'REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN JUDICIARY'. Statement  showing  the  details  of  working  strength  of  Women  Judges  in  District  &

## Subordinate Courts as on 25.07.2022

| Sl. No.   | States &UTs         |   Civil Judge (Junior Division) |   Civil Judge (Senior Division) |   District Judge |
|-----------|---------------------|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|------------------|
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh      |                             123 |                              55 |               45 |
| 2         | Arunachal Pradesh   |                               7 |                               4 |                1 |
| 3         | Delhi               |                             166 |                              20 |               95 |
| 4         | Karnataka           |                             149 |                             120 |               89 |
| 5         | Puducherry          |                               2 |                               0 |                3 |
| 6         | Rajasthan           |                             260 |                             121 |              126 |
| 7         | Tamil Nadu          |                             216 |                             100 |              112 |
| 8         | Nagaland            |                               6 |                               2 |                7 |
| 9         | Telangana           |                             131 |                              36 |               50 |
| 10        | D &NHaveli          |                               0 |                               0 |                0 |
| 11        | Daman &Diu          |                               0 |                               0 |                0 |
| 12        | Goa                 |                              15 |                               8 |                5 |
| 13        | Maharashtra         |                             346 |                             139 |              112 |
| 14        | Sikkim              |                               0 |                               0 |                0 |
| 15        | Meghalaya           |                              14 |                               9 |                9 |
| 16        | Manipur             |                               5 |                              10 |                4 |
| 17        | Mizoram             |                              13 |                               2 |                6 |
| 18        | Assam               |                             120 |                              61 |               21 |
| 19        | Bihar               |                             256 |                              33 |               38 |
| 20        | Chandigarh          |                               7 |                               0 |                4 |
| 21        | Chhattisgarh        |                              99 |                              40 |               44 |
| 22        | Gujarat             |                             104 |                              74 |               50 |
| 23        | Haryana             |                              70 |                              59 |               52 |
| 24        | Himachal Pradesh    |                              36 |                              11 |                8 |
| 25        | Jammu and Kashmir   |                              37 |                              24 |                8 |
| 26        | Kerala              |                             125 |                              39 |               42 |
| 27        | Ladakh              |                               1 |                               2 |                0 |
| 28        | Lakshadweep         |                               0 |                               0 |                0 |
| 29        | Madhya Pradesh      |                             300 |                             133 |              103 |
| 30        | Odisha              |                             185 |                             114 |               45 |
| 31        | Punjab              |                             156 |                              59 |               60 |
| 32        | Tripura             |                              20 |                              14 |                4 |
| 33        | Uttar Pradesh       |                             404 |                             170 |              220 |
| 34        | Uttarakhand         |                              51 |                              33 |               22 |
| 35        | Jharkhand           |                              85 |                              39 |               10 |
| 36        | Andaman and Nicobar |                               0 |                               0 |                0 |
| 37        | West Bengal         |                             210 |                              80 |               40 |
|           | TOTAL               |                            3719 |                            1611 |             1435 |