More women, OBCs, minorities: Collegium data reveals diversity
NEW DELHI: For the first time, Supreme Court has made public data relating to collegium recommendations for appointment of judges to high courts, revealing growing diversity with women, OBCs and minorities accounting for a significant chunk of those appointed in recent years.
SC segmented the data on caste/gender/minority basis and also declared that 14 out of 192 judges, 7.2 % of the total, appointed to HCs were related to sitting/retired SC/HC judges, a share which seems to pull against the widely held perception of most appointees being drawn from a pool of the pedigreed.
Of the 192 judges appointed in the last two-and-a-half years - from Nov 9, 2022, till date - Scheduled Castes accounted for 4% with Scheduled Tribes making up for another 3.6%. OBCs with 16%, MBCs with 3.6%, women with 17.5% and minorities with 15.9% added up to a big chunk - again something which runs against the perception of higher judiciary continuing to be a preserve of upper castes. 32% of the selections came the general class.
From Nov 2024 to May 5 (during CJI Sanjiv Khanna's term), the SC collegium approved 51 names out of 103 candidates for HCs. Of the 51, 11 were OBCs, one was SC, two belonged to STs, eight were minorities and six were women. Two appointees were related to sitting or retired SC/HC judges.
Significantly, contrary to the perception of a standoff with the executive over appointments, only 17 of 170 recommendations made between Nov 2022 and Nov 2024 remain pending with Centre. From the 51 recommendations from Nov 2024 till date, 12 are pending with Centre.
The data showed that Centre was sitting over the SC collegium's recommendation for more than two years in case of four names.
SC had in 2023 said Centre's pick-and-choose policy in clearing names sent by the collegium for appointment and transfer of judges was not acceptable. The court, which has been monitoring progress in appointment and transfer of judges in various HCs on the judicial side, had said Centre was sending the wrong signal by delaying decisions.
NEW DELHI: For the first time, Supreme Court has made public data relating to collegium recommendations for appointment of judges to high courts, revealing growing diversity with women, OBCs and minorities accounting for a significant chunk of those appointed in recent years.
SC segmented the data on caste/gender/minority basis and also declared that 14 out of 192 judges, 7.2 % of the total, appointed to HCs were related to sitting/retired SC/HC judges, a share which seems to pull against the widely held perception of most appointees being drawn from a pool of the pedigreed.
Of the 192 judges appointed in the last two-and-a-half years - from Nov 9, 2022, till date - Scheduled Castes accounted for 4% with Scheduled Tribes making up for another 3.6%. OBCs with 16%, MBCs with 3.6%, women with 17.5% and minorities with 15.9% added up to a big chunk - again something which runs against the perception of higher judiciary continuing to be a preserve of upper castes. 32% of the selections came the general class.
From Nov 2024 to May 5 (during CJI Sanjiv Khanna's term), the SC collegium approved 51 names out of 103 candidates for HCs. Of the 51, 11 were OBCs, one was SC, two belonged to STs, eight were minorities and six were women. Two appointees were related to sitting or retired SC/HC judges.
Significantly, contrary to the perception of a standoff with the executive over appointments, only 17 of 170 recommendations made between Nov 2022 and Nov 2024 remain pending with Centre. From the 51 recommendations from Nov 2024 till date, 12 are pending with Centre.
The data showed that Centre was sitting over the SC collegium's recommendation for more than two years in case of four names.
SC had in 2023 said Centre's pick-and-choose policy in clearing names sent by the collegium for appointment and transfer of judges was not acceptable. The court, which has been monitoring progress in appointment and transfer of judges in various HCs on the judicial side, had said Centre was sending the wrong signal by delaying decisions.
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