NEW DELHI, May 20: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought responses from the Centre, all states and Union Territories on a PIL seeking 30 percent quota for women lawyers in Government panels and law officer positions.
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A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi took note of the submissions of senior advocate and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Vikas Singh and issued notices to the Centre and others on the PIL filed by the Ladli Foundation Trust.
The PIL sought a direction to the Centre, state governments, and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) to implement a minimum 30 percent quota for women across all legal tiers, from the Supreme Court panels to local legal aid authorities.
At the outset, Singh said the PIL has been filed following the survey conducted by the SCBA on status and representation of women lawyers in the legal profession.
“They needed to be included in Government panels,” the senior lawyer said.
The CJI said on Tuesday some representatives of a Telangana bar body met him and he was pleasantly surprised to know that a woman lawyer has been appointed secretary there.
“She was thanking me. I enquired about the total strength of the Bar .. it is 19,000. Around 8,000 (advocates) come regularly, out of which 2,000 are women. Now only one woman member is appointed,” the CJI said.
Singh said the SCBA also proposes to file a separate PIL keeping in mind difficulties being faced by women lawyers.
The plea refers to startling empirical evidence to say that while women are entering law schools in record numbers, they are systematically blocked from professional advancement.
“Ladli Foundation Trust is filing the present PIL under Article 32 of the Constitution seeking issuance of an appropriate writ, order or direction for a minimum of 30 percent reservation/representation for women advocates in all governmental panels, including but not limited to the Supreme Court panels, high court panels, Government law officer positions, legal aid panels and all Central and State Government/PSU empanelments, so as to secure effective enforcement of the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 15(3), 19(1)(g) and 21 of the Constitution,” the plea said.
Citing the India Justice Report of 2022 and the SCBA survey, the plea said in over 75 years of independence, no woman has ever been appointed as Attorney General or Solicitor General of India.
“In the 35 years since Justice M Fathima Beevi became the first woman judge of the Supreme Court in 1989, only 11 women have ever been elevated to the Supreme Court of India. Presently, women constitute approximately 5.88% of judges in the Supreme Court and about 13.76% of judges in the high courts, despite forming a much larger proportion of entry-level legal professionals,” it said.
The systemic exclusion of women from these panels is not merely an issue of professional inequity but a significant constitutional lapse that impedes the realisation of substantive equality, it said. (PTI)
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