Centre Not Maintaining Category-Wise Data Relating To Representation Of SC/ST/OBC Judges In High Courts: Law Minister
Upasana Sajeev
29 Nov 2024 11:53 AM IST
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Thursday informed that the appointment of Judges to the Supreme Court and the High Courts was being carried out based on the procedure laid down in the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) prepared in 1998 following the Second Judges Case along with the Advisory Opinion of Third Judges Case. He informed that the procedures did not provide for reservation of any caste or class of persons.
The Union Minister was answering a query raised by the DMK Rajya Sabha MP P Wilson seeking details on whether the government had included the requirement of social diversity and reservation in the memorandum of procedure for appointment of judges. Wilson had also sought details of the number of judges from the SC/ST/OBC/Forward Caste/Women and minority in all the HCs and the SC. Information was also sought on the vacancies in all High Courts and the reason why the names of Ramasamy Neelankandan and John Sathyan had been kept pending despite collegium recommendation.
The Union Minister informed that the while the category wise details of judges belong to the ST, ST, OBC and other communities was not being maintained centrally, since 2018, the Collegium recommendation are required to provide the social background in the prescribed format. Based on the information received through recommendations, the Minister informed that out of the 684 judges appointed to the High Courts since 2018, 21 belong to SC community, 14 belong to ST community, 82 belong to OBC category and 37 belong to minorities. As on October 31, 2024, there were 2 women judges in the SC and 106 in the High Courts across the country.
While the centre did not directly answer as to why the names of Ramasamy Neelakandan and John Sathyan were kept pending despite collegium recommendations, the Minister said that appointment of judges to the higher judiciary was a continuous, integrated and collaborative process between the executive and the judiciary.
“The Government exercises its opinion on the recommendations made by the Supreme Court Collegium (SCC) by virtue of this collaborative process so as to ensure that most suitable and meritorious candidate is appointed to the esteemed post of a Judge in the Constitutional Courts. Only those persons are appointed as Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts whose names have been recommended by the SCC”
