Two women judges in Supreme Court, 78 in High Courts, says law ministry

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Law and Justice informed Parliament that there are only two women judges in the Supreme Court and 78 in various high courts of the country. In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister for Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad said the details of the women judges in the tribunals are not maintained centrally as they are administered by different ministries or departments of the government.

The details of the women judges in the subordinate judiciary are also not maintained centrally as the subject matter falls within the domain of the high courts and state governments, he added. “As on September 1, 2020, there are two women judges in the Supreme Court and 78 women judges in various High Courts,” Prasad said.

He said the SC has a sanctioned strength of 34 judges and two of them are women. According to the data provided by the minister, the maximum of 11 women judges are in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, followed by nine in the Madras High Court and eight each in the high courts of Delhi and Bombay. 

No women judges in six high courts
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Supreme Court has a sanctioned strength of 34 judges and two of them are women. The Union law ministry data shows the high courts of Patna, Manipur, Meghalaya, Telangana, Tripura and Uttarakhand do not have any woman judge.