79% HC judges from upper castes; legal experts say no diversity

Umar Sharieef | NT

Bengaluru: The Union Law Ministry revealed in the Parliament that diversity was absent in the appointment of high court judges across the country from 2018-22 as 79% of them are from the upper castes.

Only 2.98% and 1.49% of the judges are from the SC/ ST background during this period, while 11.92% are from the OBC and 5.6% from the minorities. Information on appointment of the judges has sent shockwaves among legal experts, who questioned the functionality of the collegium.

The judicial system in India established the collegium in 1993, which appoints judges in the Supreme Court and high courts, headed by the Chief Justice of India, and four senior judges from the SC.

Talking about discrimination in the judicial system, retired Madras High Court Justice Hari Paranthaman told News Trail that the discrimination has been there since 1950. “Not just from 2018, the situation has been evident since 1950.

The appointment of judges from 1950 to 2000 itself constitutes the upper castes of over 60 per cent”, he said. The retired justice also pointed out that Justice Varadarajan, the first Dalit judge in the Supreme Court was appointed in 1980, followed by Justice Ramaswamy from West Bengal and Justice K G Balakrishnan from Kerala, and said the lack of social diversity was evident since those days.

Even though the Law Ministry stressed the importance of social diversity, the retired justice said there is a lack of judges representing the SC/ST, OBC, and minorities in the collegium, which further helps a lawyer from the upper castes get elevated as a high court judge.

Judges from the SC/ST in the Supreme and the high court are merely 6 per cent of the total number of judges in these courts.

Saying that the influence of the Union government has doubled in the appointment of judges, manipulating the power of collegium, after the BJP came to power in 2014, Paranthaman cited the appointment of L Victoria Gowri, the Madras High Court justice, who was sworn in on February 7, while the SC was hearing petitions challenging her appointment, as evidence as she was in the headlines for her alleged remark against minorities.

He also questioned why the SC stayed the elevation of Justice Jhon Sathyan from being a Madras High Court judge.

Further, he said the government must stop trying to influence the collegium over the appointment of judges and give more representations to SC/ST, OBC, and minorities to uphold social diversity