Govt ‘never deliberately’ delayed appointments of judges: Rijiju

“The government, on its own deliberately, never held up any appointment cases. Government has to do due diligence while appointing judges because while appointing the 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 then come to us has to follow a process. Some of the names are with the Collegium in the Supreme Court. Some of the names are with government at different stages and this is a well-established process as per the memorandum of procedure. And we don’t make any delay on our part just because we don’t want to make any kind of judgment on our own, but only to look after the issue of appointing only the qualified judges,” Rijiju said.

Chief Justice of India N V Ramana has spoken several times in the past about the need to facilitate the appointment of judges, including clearance to recommendations by the Collegium for HC vacancies, to nullify the persistent challenge of judicial vacancies. The CJI, speaking at an event in December 2021, appreciated the government’s efforts in appointing judges in recent months, but also urged the law ministry to clear some of the pending recommendations.

On Thursday, Rijiju was responding to Biju Janata Dal (BJD) lawmaker Prasanna Acharya, whose query was supplementary to a question raised by CPI(M) MP John Brittas on the number of women judges currently appointed to the Supreme Court and the high courts.

There are 83 women judges out of the sanctioned judicial strength of 1,098 in the high courts, Rijiju said. In the Supreme Court, there are four women judges against a total capacity of 34.

The minister said three of the four women judges were appointed to the top court after he took over as law minister in July 2021.

“We have been stressing, personally I have been asking the Collegium led by the CJIs of SC and HCs that while recommending names for appointment of judges preferences be given to women, backward classes, SC or STs,” he said.

“There are no provisions of reservations for the appointment of judges in the judiciary. But we still keep insisting that while we are talking about appointing quality judges, at the same time, we also have to ensure that preferences are given for the appointment of women judges as well as people belonging to the backward classes including SCs and STs,” he said, adding that he has also written to the Patna high court Chief Justice Sanjay Karol to forward the names of women in the next lot of recommendations.

The Patna high court, which has an approved strength of 53 judges, does not have a single woman judge currently.

CJI Ramana, too, last year spoke about gender disparity in the judiciary and advocated for 50 per cent reservation for women. “Enough of suppression of thousands of years. It is high time we have 50% representation of women in judiciary. It is your right. It is not a matter of charity,” he had said.