Parliamentary Panel Seeks 50% Quota For Women Judges

There is just one woman judge in the Supreme Court. High Court has only 10% women judges. As we go down in the rungs of magistrate and below, we do find a rise in the number of women, but equality with male judges is a distant dream.

Showing concern over the minimal percentage of women judges in the country, a parliamentary panel has sought reservation for women in Law Universities and subordinate judiciary.

The Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances and Law and Justice has demanded that women’s representation in legal department should rise up to 50%, reported Live Law.

The committee, led by Bhupendra Yadav, made the demand in the 96^th report on Demand for Grants (2018-19). It refers to “Tilting the Scale: Gender Imbalance in Lower Judiciary” report published by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy and notes that out of the total 15,959 Judges in the lower judiciary across India, 11,397 are male judges and only 4,409 are women.

It wants the National Law University to replicate quota of supernumerary model of IIT. The model requires increasing the number of seats if the number of girls falls below a fixed percentage. It will thereby create special “supernumerary seats” for female candidates, without reducing the seats for male students

It pointed out that states like Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, Assam, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu have reserved quota for women judges in the subordinate judiciary.

“The Committee, accordingly, desires that the Bench of Higher Judiciary reflects composition of the society and its diversity. It recommends that it should take suitable measures to include more women judges in both Higher and Subordinate Judiciary."

ALSO READ: 50 Years On, Delhi High Court Has Only Ten Women Judges

The panel reiterates from its 84th Report that women judges should make up 50% of the total strength of judges.

It wants the National Law University to replicate quota of supernumerary model of IIT. The model requires increasing the number of seats if the number of girls falls below a fixed percentage. It will thereby create special “supernumerary seats” for female candidates, without reducing the seats for male students.

Picture credit- LiveMint

More Stories by Poorvi Gupta