Appointment of Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts is made under Articles 124, 217 and 224 of the Constitution of India, which do not provide reservation for any caste or class of persons. Hence no caste/category wise data is maintained centrally.

A statement showing total number of judges appointed each year in the High Courts and the Supreme Court since 2017 may be seen at Annexure.

In the present system of appointment of Judges to the constitutional courts through the Collegium system, the onus to provide social diversity and representation to all sections of the society including SC/ST/OBC/Women/Minorities primarily falls on the Judiciary. Government cannot appoint any person as a High Court Judge who is not recommended by the High Court Collegium/Supreme Court Collegium.

However, the Government remains committed to social diversity in the appointment of Judges in the Higher Judiciary and has been requesting the Chief Justices of High Courts that while sending proposals for appointment of Judges, due consideration be given to suitable candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Minorities and Women to ensure social diversity in appointment of Judges in High Courts.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Law and Justice, Shri Kiren Rijiju in a written reply in Rajya Sabha, today.

 

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ANNEXURE

Statement showing total number of judges appointed each year in the High Courts and the Supreme Court since 2017 (As on 25.03.2022)

		Years						Total
Supreme Court		2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
		05	08	10	-	09	-	32
Sl. No.	High Courts
1	Allahabad	31	28	10	04	17	1	91
2	Andhra Pradesh	10	-	02	07	02	07	28
3	Bombay	14	04	11	04	06	-	39
4	Calcutta	06	11	06	01	08	-	32
5	Chhattisgarh	03	04	-	-	03	-	10
6	Delhi	04	05	04	-	02	06	21
7	Gauhati	02	02	04	-	06	-	14
8	Gujarat	-	04	03	07	07	-	21
9	Himachal Pradesh	-	-	02	-	01	-	03
10	J & K and Ladakh	03	02	-	05	02	2	14
11	Jharkhand	02	03	02	-	04	-	11
12	Karnataka	02	12	10	10	06	-	40
13	Kerala	03	04	01	06	12	-	26
14	Madhya Pradesh	-	08	02	-	08	06	24
15	Madras	12	08	01	10	05	2	38
16	Manipur	-	-	-	01	-	-	01
17	Meghalaya	-	01	01	-	-	-	02
18	Orissa	-	01	01	02	04	03	11
19	Patna	06	-	04	-	06	2	18
20	Punjab& Haryana	08	07	10	01	06	-	32
21	Rajasthan	05	-	03	06	08	-	22
22	Sikkim	01	-	-	-	-	-	01
23	Telangana	-	-	03	01	07	10	21
24	Tripura	-	01	-	01	-	-	02
25	Uttarakhand	03	03	01	-	-	-	07
	Total	115	108	81	66	120	39	529

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