National

'No' to quota for SC/STs in higher judiciary

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI APRIL 18. The Centre has rejected the proposal of the Parliamentary Committee on Welfare of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes to provide for quota for these communities and women in the higher judiciary.

According to Law Ministry sources, the Centre feels that appointment of judges to the High Courts and the

Supreme Court is governed by Articles 124 and 217 of the Constitution, which do not provide for reservation for any caste or class of persons.

As a result, the Government is not maintaining a list of judges separately on caste or class basis.

The Centre is of the view that amending the provisions of the Constitution to provide for quota for judges belonging to the SC/ST communities will send wrong signals to the judiciary and hence rejected the committee's recommendations.

But the Centre recently wrote to the High Court Chief Justices and the Chief Ministers requesting them to locate suitable persons from the Bar belonging to the SCs/STs, Other Backward Classes and the Minorities and Women for appointment as judges so that their representation in higher judiciary could be increased.

In its recommendations to the Government, the committee had expressed serious concern over the "dismal representation of SCs/STs in the higher judiciary".

The committee had said that out of about 490 High Court Judges only about 20 were from the SCs/STs and only one Supreme Court judge belonged to the SC. Some 157 posts of High Court judges were vacant.

Voicing concern over the "inaction" of the States in increasing the representation, the committee recommended that the Centre take "concrete" steps, if need be, to amend the Constitution.

It said that there was no legal or constitutional bar for providing reservation in the judiciary.

"What is apparently lacking is political will and sincerity to do the needful. The provision of Article 15 (4), as interpreted by the Supreme Court, should be applied to the appointment of Supreme Court and High Court judges without any further loss of time."

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