Only 3% of High Court judges since 2018 were SC; 1.5% ST: Parliamentary Committee flags 'diversity deficit' in judiciary

Only 3% of High Court judges appointed in the last six years belong to the Scheduled Caste (SC) category, while the representation from the Scheduled Tribe (ST) community was only 1.5%, a parliamentary committee report has revealed..As per the report, a total of 601 judges were appointed to various High Courts since 2018. Of these, 457 (76%) belonged to the General category, 18 were from the SC community and 9 from the ST community.The number of judges from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) stood at 72 (11.9%) and the number of women judges was 91 (15.1%). Only 32 (5.3%) judges were from minority communities. The social status information of 13 judges was not available..The data comes from the 133rd Parliamentary Standing Committee Report on the subject ‘Judicial Processes and Their Reforms’, tabled in the Rajya Sabha on August 7, 2023. The Committee headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) Sushil Kumar Modi and consisting of 31 MPs from both houses of the parliament, was of the unanimous view that the representation of marginalized sections of the society, women and minorities in higher judiciary is abysmally low.“As the Collegium is responsible for making recommendations for appointment to the Higher Judiciary, the onus is on them to ensure adequate representation for those sections of society,” the report underlined. .Some members of the Committee even demanded a constitutional amendment for ensuring representation of SCs/STs/OBCs in the higher judiciary.The report said that the higher judiciary suffers from a 'diversity deficit' and the representation of SCs, STs, OBCs, women, and minorities is far below the desired levels and does not reflect the social diversity of the country.“In recent years there has been a declining trend in representation from all the marginalized sections of Indian society,” it highlighted.It added,“Though there is no provision for reservation in the judicial appointments at High Courts and Supreme Court level, the Committee feels that adequate representation of various sections of Indian society will further strengthen the trust, credibility, and acceptability of the Judiciary among the citizens.”.The Committee was also of the view that while making recommendations for appointments to the higher judiciary, both the Supreme Court and the High Court Collegiums should recommend an adequate number of women and candidates from the marginalized sections of the society including minorities.“This provision should be clearly mentioned in the Memoranda of Procedure (MoP), which is presently under finalization.”.Meanwhile, MP and Senior Advocate P Wilson suggested that the poor representation of many social groups may mean that their rights are not being properly safeguarded, and may eventually lead to the infringement and violation of their rights.“People of this country are afraid that a very narrow, homogeneous group of Judges belonging to certain classes will not reflect the views and values of society as a whole, particularly on issues involving diverse, cultural and generational matters because they would require more perspectives, as the Judges would interpret and enforce law based on their own background. A more diverse judiciary is desirable because without one, the chances are greatly increased for violation of the rights on these under represented sections and could indirectly imply discrimination,” Wilson was quoted as saying in the report..In conclusion, the Committee recommended that the Department of Justice collect data on the social status of sitting Supreme Court and High Court judges appointed before 2018 as well.