Collegium Remains Male-Dominated, Must Invite Woman Judges : Justice Ujjal Bhuyan

Justice Ujjal Bhuyan of the Supreme Court today stated that the Supreme Court Collegium remains "male-dominated". He suggested that the collegium should invite a woman judge to take part in the proceedings, which will allow it to make better and more inclusive 

Justice Bhuyan was speaking as a Chief Justice to the 12th Convocation of the University of Science & Technology, Meghalaya. He stated that out of the strength of 35 judges in the Supreme Court, only 3 are women, which doesn't reflect well compared to the proportion of women lawyers and judges across the country. 

He said: "Recently, we had Justice Mohana from the Supreme Court Bar and Justice Sunita Agarwal as the Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court. From 35 judges as of now, we only have 3 women judges, which I think doesn't reflect the real proportion of women lawyers or women in the country. This is one aspect we need to look at seriously."

Justice Bhuyan recalled that he was invited last March to a seminar organised by women lawyers in the Supreme Court complex regarding adequate representation of women as senior advocates and as judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts. He stated that he had suggested there that inviting a woman judge to the Collegium would allow better representation. 

"I had suggested [since] these are male-dominated collegiums we have, it should incorporate a lady judge as a invitee to the Collegium proceedings. This will give a better representation of the situation at the Bar. But it is indeed a great pride to see women doing exceptionally well."

Justice Bhuyan also addressed an important concern that despite women doing well in the legal field, it doesn't get proportionately translated into adequate senior designations. He stated that the blame must go to the criteria that keep getting subjective in nature. 

He said: "You have noticed that there has been an entry of a large number of women into the legal profession, but it's not getting translated into adequate designations as senior advocates. In that conference, I was there. When my turn came, I said, "My research has shown that when the selection is objective, or based on objective criteria, we see a large number of women in the service".

He stated that, for instance, in judicial services in Assam, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Telangana, in Grade III judicial services, the entry of women is almost more than 50%. In Assam, it's 65%. In Grade II, Chief Judicial Magistrate Level, women would be 45%. But these statistics continue to decrease for Grade I services as judges of the High Courts or the Supreme Court.

"When you move up to Grade I, it is good [upto] 25-30% representation of women. But when the selection becomes subjective in its form, such as recommendation by the Collegium. Those from the legal background would know that suddenly there is a sharp fall in the percentage of women in the High Courts or Supreme Court. In the Supreme Court, I had Justice Nagarathna as my woman colleague."