Expressing his commitment to engaging with the judicial officers, including the women judges, Justice Chandrachud mentioned that he would meet them during the lunch hour.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud highlighted a positive nationwide development during Friday's proceedings, drawing attention to the increasing presence of women judicial officers. In a courtroom in Maharashtra, the CJI announced, "We wish to share some happy news. Here in the back row, we have 75 judges from the civil judge junior division. Out of a batch of 75 judges, 42 are women and 33 are men."
Justice Chandrachud, sitting with Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, acknowledged that this gender balance among judicial officers is not limited to Maharashtra but is a growing trend across the country. "This is a trend happening across the country. There are more women judges in numbers," he stated, PTI reported.
Expressing his commitment to engaging with the judicial officers, including the women judges, Justice Chandrachud mentioned that he would meet them during the lunch hour. Some lawyers, including senior advocate Dushyant Dave, seized the opportunity to urge the CJI to take measures to further increase the representation of women judges in the apex court.
In response, the CJI offered insights into the historical context of judicial appointments, noting, "The appointments made today are a reflection of the bar 15 years ago." This acknowledgment underlines the need for ongoing efforts to address gender disparities in the legal profession.
The call for increased representation of women in the judiciary echoes recent correspondence from former Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president and senior lawyer Vikas Singh. Singh emphasized the imperative of allocating one-third of judges' positions to women in higher judiciary, aligning with the parliamentary Bill that reserves one-third seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
However, Singh's letter also shed light on the gender gap in some high courts, such as Patna, Uttarakhand, Tripura, Meghalaya, and Manipur, which currently lack a single woman judge. Out of the remaining 20 high courts, there are 103 women judges compared to 670 male judges.