Former Chief Justice of India NV Ramana has said the government lacked will to promote gender parity in constitutional courts. While there is a substantial 40% representation of women in trial courts, the representation is not up to the mark in the Supreme Court and in High Courts.
Speaking at a question-answer session during the first national conference of ‘Indian Women in Law’ at the Supreme Court on the occasion of International Women’s Day on Sunday, he said the government always showed a causal attitude in appointments of women as judges of Supreme Court and High Courts. Either the government lacks intent or doesn’t has sufficient determination to push for gender parity, he forcefully added.
During his tenure three women judges – Justices Hima Kohli, Bela M Trivedi and BV Nagarathna – took oath on Aug 31, 2021, and created history. No other woman judge has been appointed to the supreme court since then. And no women judge has been appointed to the apex court during the tenure of four successive chief justices – Justices UU Lalit, DY Chandrachud, Sanjiv Khanna and BR Gavai. In Justice Surya Kant’s tenure too, there is no headway till now.
Referring to Justice Nagarathna and Justice PS Narasimha, Justice Ramana said there are two future CJIs in this gathering and hoped that during their tenure at least 7-8 women judges will be appointed to the Supreme Court.
Justice Ramana noted that despite Law Ministers urging High Court Chief Justices to recommend women for High Court judge appointments, the government hasn’t strongly pushed for effective representation. He highlighted that while 40% of judicial officers are women, there are only 116 women HC judges out of a sanctioned strength of 1,122; and one only woman judge in the Supreme Court, out of 34 judges.
Justice Ramana emphasized that the judiciary must take responsibility for inclusivity, stating, “The judiciary must respond with sincerity towards inclusivity as there is no dearth of talented women lawyers who can be HC judges.”
Highlighting the disparity in women representation, the former CJI said: “Except for a few high courts, most major metropolitan centres have a large pool of highly competent women lawyers. It’s very worrisome why these numbers aren’t reflected in judicial appointments.”