Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana, said that he would prefer at least 50 percent female representation in all levels of the judiciary after the collegium headed by him cleared the way for an Indian woman judge to lead the judiciary in 2027.
“Very few women find representation at the top. Even when they do, they continue to face significant challenges. After 75 years of independence, one would expect at least 50% representation for women at all levels, but I must admit, with great difficulty we have now achieved a mere 11% representation of women on the bench of the Supreme Court,” said justice Ramana.
The issue of women's representation in the judiciary must be brought to the forefront and deliberated upon.
Justices Indira Banerjee, Hima Kohli, B.V. Nagarathna and Bela M Trivedi are the Supreme Court's four female justices, the highest number in its history. With the addition of Justice Banerjee, there are now 11 women judges in the Supreme Court. As of September 2027, Justice Nagarathna will be the first woman Chief Justice of India (CJI), and her term will last just over a month- a mere 12% in total.
Only the Madras high court has more than ten women judges among the 25 high courts. There are 13 female judges in the Madras High Court out of 58 total, which is more than 22 percent.No woman judges exist in at least five high courts: Manipur, Bihar, Uttarakhand, and Tripura while seven other high courts have just one woman judge each.
The total number of judges in India's 25 high courts is 1,098. As of September 1, 465 of these positions (more than 42 percent of the total force) were vacant.
As of this past week, the collegium has recommended 68 names for appointment to 12 high courts. The list included nine names that the Union government had objected to, but which were reaffirmed by the collegium after it overruled the opposition. As well as Calcutta's high court, the Jammu & Kashmir high court, the Karnataka and Rajasthan high courts were also mentioned.
Lawyers make up 44 of the cleared 68 names, while judicial officers make up 24. A total of ten women are included in the list of candidates. In yet another first, the Gauhati high court has recommended the appointment of a woman judicial officer from the Scheduled Tribes.