Supreme Court keen to appoint women judges now

Justice JS Khehar of the Supreme Court (SC) raised peals of laughter in a jam-packed courtroom on Tuesday when he said "No...no...no don't say that. We are always looking for a woman judge".

The judge was trying to pacify a large number of female lawyers who were complaining of "gender discrimination" in appointment of judges to higher judiciary.

They said while women participation is on the rise in every sector, it was not the same in judgeship and therefore, it was high time meritorious women advocates too, are considered on a par with males for judgeship.

The women lawyers led by the Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association (SCWLA) was making use of the opportunity as the five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice Khehar was in the process of inviting suggestions to improve the collegium system of appointment of judges by infusing transparency and streamlining eligibility criteria.

"We would first like to know what the ratio of female advocates to male advocates is. That is very important. The ratio of female judges to male judges must be in the same ratio," said Justice Khehar.

His remark came when senior lawyer Mahalakshmi Pavani and advocate Prerna Kumari representing SCWLA said "look at the numbers of women lawyers. There are just 62 women judges compared to 611 male judges (in high courts) in the entire country".

The women lawyers then told the court that would not be a fair criteria. "Please do not compare the number of women lawyers at bar and juxtapose it with the ratio of female and male judges. Women were allowed to practise in court only in 1922. Women face a lot of problems in practising in court. Despite that, they are coming out in large numbers to practice," said Pavani.

Justice R Banumathi is the only woman judge in the Supreme Court out of the total 29 judges. Since Independence, the apex court has seen just six women judges out of total 229 judges appointed from 1950. In 24 state high courts, nine HCs did not have a single woman judge. Three high courts had only one woman judge.

The Bombay HC has the highest number of women judges at 10 followed by Delhi and Punjab and Haryana High Courts, both with nine woman judges each.

"It is submitted that keeping the Article 14 (right to equality) and Article 15(3) of the Constitution Of "India is a signatory to Conventions on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), 1979, which envisaged removal of obstacles of women's public participation in all spheres of public and private lives," it said.

India (prohibition of gender discrimination), it is respectfully submitted that the higher judiciary should have adequate representation of women judges after giving due weightage on their merit," the SCWLA plea said.