38 SC, ST, OBC candidates being considered as High Court judges: Law Ministry

The names of 38 candidates belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SCs), Scheduled Tribe (STs), Backward Classes (BCs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) are being considered for elevation as High Court judges, the Union Law Ministry recently informed the Lok Sabha..Of the 38 candidates, 8 belong to SCs, 3 to STs, 25 to OBCs and 2 to BCs.The information was revealed by Minister of State (independent-charge) for Law & Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal in response to a query by Tamil Nadu Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi.Kanimozhi asked how many High Court judge recommendations were pending approval along with reasons for the same and the number of pending recommendations of SC, ST and OBC candidates.Meghwal informed that as on date, 205 proposals recommended by High Court Collegiums are at various stages of processing. He also informed the House that since 2018, 16.8 percent of judges appointed to High Courts have been from SCs, STs and OBCs.As on July 22, out of 661 High Court Judges appointed since 2018, 21 (3.17%) belong to SCs, 12 (1.81%) belong to STs, 78 (11.80%) belong to OBCs and 499 (75.49) belong to the general category..Only 15% of judges appointed to High Courts in last 5 years were from SC/STs, OBCs: Law Ministry.The MP also asked the Ministry whether the government has withheld approval for certain recommended candidates owing to their social media posts.The evasive response cites the Supreme Court Collegium's opinion that expression of views by a candidate does not disentitle him to hold a constitutional office so long as the person proposed for judgeship is a person of competence, merit and integrity.It adds that the government provides inputs which mainly contain information on the suitability, competence and integrity of candidates..Notably, the Central government has previously cited social media posts of High Court judgeship candidates as a ground to not clear their appointment.In 2022, it had returned the recommendation to elevate R John Sathyan as a Madras High Court judge, citing an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report which referred to two posts he had made on social media, one of which was critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.The Collegium reiterated its proposal twice, but Sathyan's name was not cleared for appointment..Collegium again asks Central government to notify appointment of advocate R John Sathyan to Madras High Court.Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan was recommended for elevation by the Bombay High Court Collegium in October 2021. Subsequently, in February 2022, the Supreme Court Collegium also recommended his name.However, on November 25, 2022, the Central government opposed his elevation. The apparent reason given by the government was that Sundaresan "aired his views in the social media on several matters which are the subject matter of consideration before the courts."In January 2023, the Collegium reiterated its proposal, following which Justice Sundaresan was appointed as an additional judge in November 2023..[Read Question and Response]