Appoint Solicitor General, introduce quota for women in Judiciary [Read Parliamentary Committee report]

In its 96th report on Demands for Grants (2018-19) of Ministry of Law and Justice, the Department related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel Public Grievances Law and Justice has sought for appointment of law officers including a Solicitor General of India, and the introduction of quotas for women in Law Universities and the subordinate judiciary..The committee headed by Chairman Bhupender Yadav also comprised Swapan Dasgupta, Subramanian Swamy, Vivek Tankha, Majeed Memon, V Paneersalvam, Meenakshi Lekhi, Anirudhan Sampath and D Raja, among others..The following are the highlights from the report:.Representation of Women in Judiciary.The Committee noted that the overall representation of women in the judiciary is a cause of concern in the country..Citing a report of Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, the committee notes that only 27.6 percent of the total judges in the subordinate judiciary are women. Out of the 15,959 judges in the country, 11,397 are male judges while 4,409 are female..This reduces to 10 percent in the higher judiciary, with the Supreme Court having only one women judge out of the twenty-four sitting judges..“Since Independence, only 6 women judges have been appointed in the Supreme Court of India, first being in 1989. The Committee, accordingly, desires that the Bench of Higher Judiciary be reflective of composition of the society and its diversity and recommends that suitable measures be taken to include more and more Women judges in both Higher and Subordinate Judiciary.”.While reiterating that the strength of women judges should be around 50 percent of the total judges, the Committee has requested the state governments to introduce a quota for women in Law Universities and the subordinate judiciary..Law Officers.The Committee in its report notes that the post of Solicitor General of India and eleven posts of Additional Solicitor General of India are lying vacant..“Out of the total sanctioned strength of 25 law officers, 9 posts (36%) are lying vacant. including the post of Solicitor General of India, who is second law officer of the country and assists the Attorney General of India.”.Stating that the Law Officers are entrusted with the responsibility of advising the Government of India on legal matters referred to them, appearing before the Supreme Court and any High Court,.“the Committee feels that it is vital for the Government to fill these vacancies expeditiously so that its functioning is not affected adversely.”.Pendency and vacancies.The report also gives details about the pendency figures in lower courts and higher judiciary..In the lower judiciary, the pendency is highest in the states of Uttar Pradesh (61,61,822 cases), Maharashtra (33,36,574), West Bengal (17,70,820), Bihar (16,58,292) and Gujarat (16,41,355)..In High Courts, 34.27 lakh cases are pending as of January 1, 2018, while 55,495 cases are pending in Supreme Court of India..As regards vacancies, there are 5,927 vacancies in lower courts..“The Vacancy is highest in the States of Uttar Pradesh (1348), Bihar (835), Madhya Pradesh (728), Gujarat (375) and Tamil Nadu (341). Since appointment of subordinate judicial officers falls under the domain of State Government, the Committee recommends the Department of Justice to impress upon the State Government to initiate appointment of judicial officers.”.Similarly, nearly 37 percent of the approved strength of High Courts is vacant..“The vacancy of judges in very high in High Courts of Allahabad (56), Karnataka (38), Calcutta (39), Punjab & Haryana (35), Telangana & Andhra Pradesh (30) and Bombay (24).”.As per the latest figures, the total number of vacancies has gone up to 406, as of March 1..The report, however, puts the onus of the same on the High courts and the Supreme Court, but does not speak anything about the delay from the side of Executive..“The Committee notes that the guidelines laid in the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association and another vs. Union of India (1993), popularly known as Second Judges Case, for the appointment of judges are not being adhered to by the High Courts, which is the responsibility of the Supreme Court in its administrative side to direct the concerned High Courts to initiate the process of filling up the vacancies in advance.”.In this regard, the Committee has reiterated its suggestion in its eight-seventh report for raising the age of retirement of Supreme Court judges to 67 years and that of High Court judges to 65 years..Read the full report below.