Rajya Sabha Discusses Lack Of Social Diversity In Judiciary, Issue Of Post-Retirement Jobs Of Judges

While considering the Supreme Court and High Courts (Salary and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, 2021, members of the Rajya Sabha raised the issues of lack of social diversity in the judges of higher judiciary, post-retirement appointments, lack of transparency in the appointment of judges and the need to re-introduce National Judicial Appointments Commission. The members also flagged concerns over the judicial pendency, judicial delays and vacancies across district and high courts in the country.There is lack of Social Diversity in the Judiciary: MembersDMK MP P Wilson raised the issue of utter lack of social diversity in the higher judiciary. He said that the country had been witnessing a decline in representation from all members of society in judiciary. He brought the attention of the House to a 2011 report by National Commission on Scheduled Castes which had noted that out of 850 High Court judges only 24 belonged to SC/ST communities; 14 Hight Courts did not have members belonging to these communities and 5 High Courts had no women judges at all. "Where is equality in this nation?" he asked.Elaborating on the need to have diversity, he added:"Judicial diversity is fundamental to the quality of judging. People are afraid that a very narrow homogenous group of judges belonging to certain social classes are not necessarily going to reflect the views of society as whole. Particularly on issues involving diverse culture and generational matters because they would require more perspective as judges would interpret law based on their own background." He added that lack of diversity would widen the trust deficit and there would be a likelihood of "affinity bias." Adding that there was an urgent need to address the "diversity deficit in our courts", he urged the government that appointments should consider representation from all sections of society. Since the current system of judicial appointments has resulted in "significant over-representation of certain sections" there is a need to reconsider "the objectivity of current system and inability to recruit from different social groups," he added. He appealed the government to bring in constitutional measures to ensure diversity in the appointment of judges. While other members too raised the issue of abysmal representation of certain sections of society, MP John Brittas from CPI (M) putting it very bluntly said, "out of 47 Chief Justices of India till date, atleast 14 have been Brahmins. There is no diversity in judiciary!" In addition to the lack of representation of members belonging to SC,ST and OBC communities, MP Prabhakar Reddy Vemireddy from YSRCP raised the issue of lack of gender diversity in the court. He said that while it is laudable that Justice B.V.Nagaratha is on track to become the nation's first female Chief Justice in 2027, "it is tragic that India had to wait 80 years for this simple feat." He brought to the House's attention the statistics that the Supreme Court currently has only 4 women judges, whereas High Courts have about 81 and 5 High Courts have no women judges at all. "We have done very little to provide women representation in the courts. Women's reservation in judiciary needs to be implemented at the earliest." He added. MP Vandana Chavan from the NCP also spoke on the issue of lack of gender diversity and added that "it is ironical that behind every judge stands a Lady of Justice. Unfortunately, she stands behind the seat and doesn't sit in the seat." She urged her fellow parliamentarian to pass a law to ensure that 50% of the seats in all levels of the judiciary are reserved for women. Speaking on the issue of women and judiciary Chavan also raised the issue of women's safety. Averring to the allegations of sexual harassment made against former Chief Justice of India and the manner in which the complaint were disposed off, she added: "One judge was accused of sexual harassment…We have passed the POSH law which mandates an Internal Complaints Committee. Why was he made an exception? If there has to be an exception make it part of law. You cannot have arbitrary things." Post-retirement Jobs Members of the Rajya Sabha also spoke on the issue of post-retirement appointments of judges of the higher judiciary and the impact it has on the independence of the institution. MP John Brittas suggested that there is urgent need to reconsider the system of post-judicial appointments. He point out that while B.R.Ambedkar did not agree with the proposition to prohibit judges from taking up post-retirement posts, in hindsight, considering how it has been misused by the Executive, he would have held a different opinion. Further he added the Late Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley has also flagged the issue of post retirement appointments saying that "pre-retirement judicial conduct is influenced by post-retirement...

Rajya Sabha Discusses Lack Of Social Diversity In Judiciary, Issue Of Post-Retirement Jobs Of Judges

Sneha Rao

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