There is no reservation policy in Indian Judiciary appointments. Appointments are done through the Collegium system.
Geeta Kashyap, March 03, 2025
Data highlights disparities in representation: What is the ratio of judges to population?
The issue of representation in India’s higher courts has once again sparked debate, as the ongoing lack of women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and minorities in the judiciary highlights the contentious absence of a reservation policy.
Appointments to the Supreme Court and High Courts are made through the Collegium system, as outlined under Articles 124, 217, and 224 of the Indian Constitution, which do not provide for reservation based on caste or class.
Who raised the issue?
On February 13, 2025, Neeraj Dhangi, member Rajya Sabha from Indian National Congress party raised questions seeking answers from the Minister of Law and Justice on the representation of SC/ST category judges in the courts across the country with details about the female judges and asked data on vacancies and ratio of judges according to the population.
Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of state for law and justice answered the query that put the judicial diversity in question. As there is no reservation policy, the data related to diversity is not available before 2018. Since 2018, High Court judge nominees have been required to disclose their social background in a standardised format developed in consultation with the Supreme Court. As per the response submitted in the Rajya Sabha by the ministry vacancy of Judges in High Courts across the country as on February 7, 2025 out of 1122 total sanction vacancies 755 is the working strength and 367 are vacant.
Where are the highest vacancies?
- Punjab & Haryana
- Madras
- Calcutta
- Bombay
- Allahabad
Female Judges in High Courts
The total Female judges in High Courts is 698.
India’s judge-to-population ratio stands at about 21 per million, calculated using the 2011 census figure of 1.21 billion and the sanctioned judge strength as of December 31, 2024. The appointment of judges in high courts is done on the recommendation of the Supreme Court Collegium, with the initiation of proposals by the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court in consultation with two senior-most puniness judges of the High Court.
Since 2018, of the 698 High Court judges appointed, 108 are women.
Social Background of Judges (Since 2018)
Social background declaration has been made mandatory by the government to ensure diversity and equal representation but what data says
In the same response, it was told out of 698 judges in High Court , 22 are from Scheduled Castes (SC), 15 from Scheduled Tribes (ST), 87 from Other Backward Classes (OBC), and 37 from minority communities.
What about the District and subordinate courts?
In districts and subordinate courts also not much representation from the scheduled castes and tribes. Total SC/STs Strength in District & Subordinate Courts is 3871 against the 20466 judges, which accounts for only 19%. The states with the highest number of judges in their district and subordinate courts do not reflect social diversity.
However, the states with a larger tribal population show SC/STs representation. For instance, in Arunachal Pradesh, the Scheduled Tribe population constitutes almost 69% in comparison to the other population (2011 census). In Maharashtra, the population of STs is 9.35% and Schedule Castes (SC) are almost 12% which accounts to total 21% of the total population, but they represent only 12% in the judiciary. Similarly, Punjab has almost 32% of the SC population, but they only represent 26% of the state judiciary.
