The Supreme Court collegium should give preference to women, backward classes (BCs), Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) while recommending names for appointment of judges, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
He pointed out that the court, for the first time, had four women judges out of the total sanctioned strength of 34 judges. And in the High Courts, 83 women were judges against the sanctioned strength of 1,098.
“…we have been stressing time and again, and, personally, I have also been asking the Collegium … that while recommending names for appointment as judges, preference may be given to women and persons from backward classes, SCs and STs,” Mr. Rijiju said in response to a supplementary question.
The appointment of the Supreme Court and High Court judges was made under Articles 124, 217 and 224 of the Constitution that did not provide for reservation for any caste or class of persons, he stated.
‘No reservation in judiciary’
“There is no reservation in judiciary. But efforts are being made to create better representation,” Mr. Rijiju subsequently tweeted, sharing a video of his Rajya Sabha reply.
Responding to a query from Biju Janata Dal’s Prasanna Acharya about pending approvals to names that have been recommended by the collegium, he observed that there was no ‘deliberate delay’.
“The government has to take due diligence while appointing judges because while appointing judges, we have to ensure that he is fit to be a judge in the court. This is very important. And then, all the cases which come to us have to go through a process,” he noted, adding that while some of the names were with the collegium, some others were with the government at different stages of the process.
