ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD
Members Only
lock close icon

Gender Disparity in Our HCs: Only 10% of All Judges Are Women

Eight HCs don’t have a single woman judge.

Updated
India
2 min read
story-hero-img
i
Aa
Aa
Small
Aa
Medium
Aa
Large
Hindi Female

There exists a huge gender disparity in the 24 high courts in the country. Compared to the 534 male judges in our courts, there are only 61 women judges.

Eight HCs don’t have a single woman judge.

The high courts in the country have a sanctioned strength of 1079 judges and it is up to the judiciary to ensure that this gap is addressed, as it has the final say in the appointments.

The situation is the same in the Supreme Court. There is only one woman judge in the current bench of 28 judges. The sanctioned strength is 31. This makes the ratio of women judges in the apex court less than a dismal 4%.

The Allahabad High Court has recently recommended 44 names for the appointment of judges. This list, however, has only two women.

Not surprisingly, the two HCs headed by women have the highest representation of women judges.

ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD


Eight HCs don’t have a single woman judge.
The Supreme Court of India. (Photo: Reuters)
0
The Delhi HC is headed by Justice G Rohini and women make up 28% of its sitting judges. In Bombay HC, where a woman chief justice recently took over, 10 of the 64 judges are women. Four HCs have just one woman judge each while at least 17 out of 24 HCs have no women judges or their representation is less than three. The Sikkim HC, is the only State with no gender disparity as one of the two sitting judges is a woman. 

The HC has a sanctioned strength of three judges, including the chief justice. For all appointments to HCs, the collegium of the HC concerned and the collegium of the Supreme Court are responsible.

The HC collegium comprises the two senior most judges of the HC and is headed by the chief justice.

ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD

The final word on the judges’ appointment to the High Court is taken by the Supreme Court on the recommendations of the High Court. For the Supreme Court appointments, the SC collegium - headed by the Chief Justice of India and comprising four senior-most judges - takes the decision.

The deadlock between the SC collegium and government over the finalization of the memorandum of procedure for appointment of judges to the apex court and high courts has worsened the vacancies situation.

(Source: The Times of India)

(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)

Read Latest News and Breaking News at The Quint, browse for more from news and india

Topics:  Women    Supreme Court   High Court 

Published: 
Speaking truth to power requires allies like you.
Become a Member
3 months
12 months
12 months
Check Member Benefits
Read More
×
×