NEW DELHI: The law ministry on Thursday notified the appointment of
Indu Malhotra as the 25th judge of the
Supreme Court, making the senior advocate the first woman judge in the history of the apex court to be elevated directly from the bar. She is set to take oath on Friday.
The
SC currently has one woman judge, Justice R Banumathi, who was appointed in August 2014. Her parent high court is Madras where she was first appointed as an HC judge. Justice Banumathi will retire on July 19, 2020.
The SC has so far had six women judges and all of them were elevated from HCs. This is the first time that a woman advocate has been elevated directly to the SC. With the appointment of Malhotra on Thursday, the SC's working strength has increased to 25, but it is still left with six vacancies.
The
SC collegium had recommended Malhotra's name along with Uttarakhand Chief Justice K M Joseph on January 10. "In our considered opinion, at present, Indu Malhotra, senior advocate, is eminently suitable for being appointed as a judge in the Supreme Court," the SC resolution had said.
Malhotra was one of the members of the Vishaka committee on sexual harassment at workplaces, as also of a 10-member committee constituted by the top court to deal with complaints of sexual harassment within the court.
A senior law ministry official said there was a delay in approving Malhotra's name as an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report had to be received since she was joining directly from the bar. As per procedure, no IB report is required for elevation of HC judges to the apex court.
Women judges make up a little more than 10 per cent of the current strength of HCs. A TOI study of 2016 had pointed out that there were just 61 women judges in 24 HCs as opposed to 534 male judges. The study further found that eight HCs didn't have a single woman judge.