Chief Justice NV Ramana has batted for 50 per cent reservation for women in the judiciary and also stressed the need for changes in judicial infrastructure to make it more gender-friendly.
“50 percent reservation is a matter of right and no one is going to give charity. With help of all of you ..We may reach this goal in apex court and others court. I don’t know whether i will be here or somewhere else, that day i will definitely be happy, the CJI said addressing women advocates of the Supreme Court on international daughter’s day.
“It is an issue of thousands of years of oppression. In lower levels of the judiciary less than 30 per cent of judges are women… in High Courts it is 11.5 per cent… in Supreme Court only 11-12 per cent are women,” he added.
Underlining the struggle faced by a majority of woman advocates, the CJI said, very few women find representation at the top. Even when they do, they still continue to face significant challenges. He also called for similar reservation in law colleges across the country.
“Of 1.7 million advocates in the country… only 15 per cent are women. Only two per cent elected representatives in state bar councils are women. I raised the issue of why the Bar Council of the India National Committee does not have even a single woman representative…” he said.
The CJI also ponited out the unfriendly working environments for women and lack of infratructure like female washrooms and creches for working mothers.
“I am trying to resolve issues of infrastructure… forcing the executive to make changes,” the Chief Justice added.
The apex court presently has four women judges — Justices Indira Banerjee, Hima Kohli, B V Nagarathna and Bela M Trivedi.
