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'The time has come for a woman CJI': Justice Bobde
Heading a bench, the CJI said he was of the view that the time was “now” to move in the direction of having the first woman Chief Justice of India. Justice Bobde retires on April 23.
New Delhi. The time has come for the country to have its first woman chief justice, outgoing Chief Justice of India SA Bobde said while hearing a case related to the appointment of judges on Thursday.
Heading a bench, the CJI said he was of the view that the time was “now” to move in the direction of having the first woman Chief Justice of India. Justice Bobde retires on April 23.
Other judges on the bench, justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Surya Kant, agreed with the CJI as the top court heard a plea by The Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association to consider meritorious women advocates for appointment as judges in the high courts.
Advocate Sneha Kalita, appearing for the lawyers’ body, pointed out that among the 661 judges in the high courts, only 73 were women, accounting for just 11.04%.
Even as Kalita argued that women should have due representation in the high courts as judges, CJI Bobde said: “Why only in the high courts? Why not have the first woman Chief Justice of India? Why not now? Collegium always discusses the issue of representation.”
At the same time, justices Bobde and Kaul told Kalita that there were many instances when women lawyers turned down proposals to accept judgeship citing various domestic responsibilities, including the education of their children.
“But that does not mean it is true for everyone. We completely agree with you about having women judges. We have the interest of women in our mind. We are implementing it in the best way possible. No attitudinal change is required. Only that we need capable candidates,” added the bench.
The apex court currently has five vacancies out of the sanctioned strength of 34 judges. Of 29 judges, there is only one woman.
As reported by HT on February 21, timely elevation of justice BV Nagarathna from the Karnataka high court could give India its first woman CJI in 2027.
Justice Bobde’s stint has witnessed an unparalleled stalemate within the collegium for appointments to the Supreme Court due to a lack of consensus on recommending justice Akil A Kureshi as a judge in the apex court.
Even as it made several recommendations for appointments to the high courts, the collegium has failed to recommend any name for appointment in the Supreme Court during the 14-month tenure of CJI Bobde because of the inability to resolve the issue of justice Kureshi , people familiar with the development said.
Justice Kureshi is the second senior most judge across high courts; he is currently chief justice of the Tripura High Court. But the five top judges have failed to arrive at a consensus on elevating him to the apex court. And because of that, it has been unable to recommend any other names for elevation. Justice Kureshi, is set to retire in March 2022, when he turns 62, but Supreme Court judges retire at 65 and judges get an automatic extension of three years when they are elevated to the Supreme Court.
Justice Nagarathna’s name came up for discussion in the collegium meetings but no decision could be taken due to the impasse over justice Kureshi, consequently casting a shadow over the possibility of the country having its first woman CJI, the people cited above said.
All eyes are now on the next CJI, justice NV Ramana,to see if he can resolve the deadlock and get the other four senior judges in the collegium to arrive at an agreement on justice Nagarathna’s elevation to the Supreme Court.
Once justice Ramana takes over on April 24, the other members of the collegium will be justices Rohinton F Nariman, Uday U Lalit, AM Khanwilkar and Dhananjay Y Chandrachud.
During the proceedings of the case pertaining to judicial appointments, the bench also recorded a statement by attorney general KK Venugopal that the government will decide within three months 10 names that have been finally cleared by the collegium for appointment in the high courts but have been pending with the government for more than six months. The oldest recommendation pertains to four names for the Calcutta high courts that have been pending with the government since July 2019.
