Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on Friday noted that the increasing number of women joining the district judiciary as judges is a “sign of changing times.” The CJI made these remarks as he welcomed a batch of freshly recruited 75 civil judges from Maharashtra who had gathered in the first court of the country to watch proceedings.
Of the 75 civil judges (junior division), the CJI announced, 42 are women. “Here at the back row, we have 75 judges from Maharashtra. Out of the batch of 75, 42 are women and 33 are men. Among the five direct recruits for district judges too, we have two women. It is a sign of changing times. We now have around 40% women joining as judges in the district judiciary,” Justice Chandrachud said.
Chandrachud added that the recent trend of more women joining as judges is encouraging. “This is happening across the country where the judges, who are women, are more in numbers. In some courts, they are in excess of 50%,” he said. Lauding the development, senior counsel Dushyant Dave, who was present in the court to argue a separate case, said that a similar representation of women in constitutional courts would be welcomed. The CJI acknowledged Dave’s concerns, pointing out that a lawyer needs to have experience of at least 15 years before getting appointed to a high court as a judge. “The appointments we make today are a reflection of what happened 15 years ago. And, we have to select from the pool that is available today. Therefore, what we do today would decide how the judiciary will be 10-15 years later,” Justice Chandrachud said
The CJI also informed the lawyers that the Supreme Court, for the first time in its seven-decade history, has appointed an interpreter to assist a lawyer with hearing impairment to argue her case. “I was telling the secretary-general that from now on, for all constitution bench cases, let us have an interpreter so that a wider audience can understand our proceedings. This is the first time a court-appointed interpreter appears here.”
In a first, the apex court on Friday directed its registry to appoint an interpreter for advocate Sarah Sunny, suffering from hearing impairment, to appear before the top court and argue her case. The court bore the expenses for the interpreter. Senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, who was in the court hall to mention another matter, called it a historic moment. “This is momentous. It shows the diversity in the true sense in this court,” she said.
Data presented by the Union government to Parliament in August stated that there are just over 13% of women judges in high courts and a relatively better proportion of over 36% of women in the district judiciary. Addressing a query raised in Parliament over the low percentage of women in the Indian judiciary, Union Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said, “As of 4 August, three women judges are working in the Supreme Court, 106 women Judges working in the high courts and 7,199 women judges working in district and subordinate courts.”
Presently, the Supreme Court has a sanctioned strength of 34 judges, of which, three are women. Despite a sanctioned strength of 1,114 judges, high courts presently have a working strength of 767. The proportion of women judges against this figure is a dismal 13%. In the district judiciary, the working strength comprises 19,858 judges. When the figure of 7,199 is pitted against the total strength, the women’s representation accounts for 36.27%, as per the data in August.
