(a) whether a large number of posts of judges are lying vacant in Supreme Court, High Courts and Lower Courts in the country;
(b) if so, the total number of judges in the Supreme Court and the various High Courts and Lower Courts in the country, State-wise;
(c) the details of percentage of SC/STs and women judges, court-wise;
(d) whether it is true that the judicial system is not adequately represented by the reserved section; and
(e) if so, the steps taken by the Government thereon?
THE MINISTER OF LAW, JUSTICE AND COMPANY AFFAIRS(SHRI ARUN JAITLEY)
(a) to (e) Statements I and II are enclosed. Appointments of Judges of the Supreme Court of India and the High Courts are made under articles 124 and 217 of the Constitution of India respectively which do not provide for reservation for any caste or class of persons. No statistics is, therefore, maintained for the number of Judges belonging to SC/ST in Supreme Court of India or the High Courts.
Government encourages representation of SC/ST, women and other Backward classes in the appointment of Judges and, accordingly addressed letters to the Chief Ministers of the States and the Chief Justices of the High Courts, from time to time, requesting them, inter-alia to locate suitable candidates from the Bar for appointment as High Court Judges. They were reminded last on March 15, 2002.
No statistics is maintained by the Central Government about the number of SC/ST or women Judges in Lower Courts as the appointments are made by the respective State Governments.
Statement-I
Position as on 29.04.2002
I. Supreme Court : Sanctioned Strength = 26 Actual Strength = 26 Vacancies = - Women Judge = 1
II High Courts :
Sl.No. High Court Approved Actual Vacancies Women Judges Strength Strength
1. Allahabad 95 51 44 -
2. Andhra Pradesh 39 32 7 2
3. Bombay 60 53 7 5
4. Calcutta 50 42 8 -
5. Chhattisgarh 6 3 3 - 6. Delhi 33 30 3 2
7 Gauhati 19 15 4 -
8. Gujarat 42 33 9 1
9. Himachal Pradesh 8 7 1 1 10. Jammu & Kashmir 14 8 6 - 11. Jharkhand 12 10 2 - 12. Karnataka 40 33 7 1 13. Kerala 29 24 5 1 14. Madhya Pradesh 29 26 3 1 15. Madras 42 31 11 1 16. Orissa 16 14 2 - 17. Patna 31 23 8 1 18. Punjab & Haryana 40 26 14 1 19. Rajasthan 32 27 5 1 20. Sikkim 3 1 2 - 21. Uttaranchal 7 3 4 -
Total 647 492 155 18
Statement-II
Lower Courts
Sl.No. Name of State/UT No.of sanctioned No.of Judicial No.of Vacant posts of Judicial Officers Posts Officers as on 1.6.2001
1. Andhra Pradesh 682 661 21
2. Assam 259 205 54
3. Arunachal Pradesh# 293 293 0
4. Bihar 1065 874 191
5. Jhardkand 533 370 163 6. Gujarat 636 581 163
7 Goa 44 39 5
8. Haryana+ 266 233 33
9. Himachal Pradesh 98 93 5 10. Jammu & Kashmir 156 141 15 11. Karnataka 665 589 76 12. Kerala 370 369 1 13. Madhya Pradesh 798 665 133 14. Chhattisgarh 190 175 15 15. Maharashtra 1280 1107 173 16. Manipur 32 28 4 17. Meghalaya+ 7 6 1 18. Mizoram 35 21 14 19. Nagaland+ 21 21 0 20. Orrisa 483 404 79 21. Punjab 301 279 22 22. Rajasthan 790 663 127 23. Sikkim 12 9 3 24. Tamil Nadu# 692 688 4 25. Tripura 74 55 19 26. Uttar Pradesh 1929 1517 412 27. Uttaranchal 28. West Bengal 588 507 81 29. A&N Islands 8 8 0 30. Chandigarh 19 19 0 31. Delhi 385 239 146 32. Dadra & Nagar Haveli 2 2 0 33. Daman & Diu+ 2 2 0 34. Lakshdweep 3 3 0 35. Pondicherry 19 14 5
Total 12,737 10,880 1,857