In a significant proposal, former Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President and distinguished lawyer, Vikas Singh, has penned a letter to Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, emphasizing the imperative of allocating one-third of judgeships to women in the higher judiciary.
Singh’s advocacy comes in response to the stark gender imbalance that persists within the higher judiciary in India. According to his letter, several high courts, including Patna, Uttarakhand, Tripura, Meghalaya, and Manipur, currently do not have a single woman judge. Among the remaining 20 high courts, there are merely 103 female judges compared to a staggering 670 male judges.
India houses a total of 25 high court.
Singh’s proposition references the recent passage of the 128th Constitution Amendment Bill in the Indian Parliament. This bill advocates reserving one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of India’s Parliament) and state assemblies for women. Building upon this legislative stride, Singh urges the Chief Justice to institute a credible appointment system for judges in high courts and the Supreme Court, ensuring that one-third of the vacancies are occupied by women.
In his letter, Singh emphasizes, “With a historic unanimous passing of the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’ by Parliament, it is indeed a moment for the judiciary to also rise to the occasion to ensure that India finally moves towards an era of women-led development.” He has also extended this proposal to the four top judges of the Supreme Court and the chief justices of high courts
The letter underscores the significant underrepresentation of women in the higher judiciary. Singh points out that in more than 76 years of independent India, only 11 women have been appointed as Supreme Court Judges out of a total of 270 Judges appointed to the esteemed institution. This meager figure accounts for a mere 4 percent of all judicial appointments to date.
Singh’s advocacy for gender parity in the judiciary underscores the evolving dynamics of India’s legal landscape and the ongoing efforts to address gender disparities in key institutions.
By PTI
