Judicial 'balance': In 6 yrs, only 25% of HC judges from SC/STs & minorities

NT Correspondent

New Delhi: A statement by the Ministry of Law and Justice in the Rajya Sabha has disclosed that the higher judiciary continues to be dominated by upper-caste persons.

It was revealed that Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and religious minorities made up less than 25 per cent of the High Court (HC) judges appointed over the last six years.

As many as 492 of the 650 appointed judges or 75.7 per cent of the appointees in said period belonged to the General Category.

Meanwhile, only 23 appointees or 3.54 per cent of the pool were SCs, 10 or 1.54 per cent were STs, 76 or 11.7 per cent belonged to the OBC category while 36 or 5.54 per cent were from minority communities.

The ministry’s statement, however, added that they couldn’t ascertain the caste identity and category of 13 High Court appointees.

The answer also disclosed that there had been 111 women judges in a pool of 790, accounting for 14.1 per cent of the total number. Punjab and Haryana High Court had 15 women judges, the highest of HCs.

The answer also said that the ministry was not in possession of categorywise and caste-wise data of judges in the Supreme Court (SC).

However, it could confirm that there were three women judges in the Apex Court, which came to 8.82 per cent of the current strength.