NEW DELHI, Mar 10:
Chief Justice of India T S Thakur today said till a few years back there were no women judges in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court but now they were stepping out of homes and were into the subordinate judiciary in the “conservative State”.
He said today Delhi High Court has the distinction of having the largest number of women judges in the country but a few years back, when diamond jubilee function was celebrated at the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, there was not even a single lady judge there.
“Literacy rate in Jammu and Kashmir has gone up and at least 50 per cent of those in the subordinate judiciary are women. 50 per cent or maybe more than 50 per cent,” Thakur, himself from J&K, said while addressing a seminar on ‘Women of vision to lead change’ organised by Citizen’s Rights Trust.
The Chief Justice said problem with all of us is that we always speak about our rights but we should also talk about our duties as well.
He also said, “When you talk of change and you expect women of vision to lead that change, the question is what change are you talking about. What is that change that we intend to bring about.”
“Problem with all of us is that we always speak only about rights. I think the first change that we must bring in our approach is that we must not only talk about rights, we must also talk about our duties. When you talk about your duties, how many of you are conscious of duty to keep your environment clean. How many of you really contribute towards that. Just introspect,” he said.
The CJI said there are problems in life and its compulsions would continue but the question is do we have the capacity to rise above it.
“I think we are poised for a very great future because women in this country are resurgent. They are leading us in almost every walk of life,” he said, adding, “I feel in any society where women get their due, where women are respected, where women are educated, that society and that community has a great future. There is nothing which can stop Indian women from touching greater heights.”
He said that in Nepal, which has had its Constitution only last year, the next Chief Justice would be a woman.
“For whatever reasons, Nepal has gone ahead of us (in this respect) because it is going to get a woman Chief Justice,” he said.
Besides the CJI, Justice Gita Mittal of Delhi High Court and Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand also addressed the gathering.
Meanwhile, 71 Additional Judges of seven High Courts were today made permanent Judges even as Justice C S Karnan, who recently courted controversy by “staying” CJI’s transfer order, was shifted to Calcutta High Court.
Justice Ajit Singh of Rajasthan High Court has been elevated as Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court while Justice Satish Kumar Mittal of Punjab and Haryana High Court has been sent as Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court.
The Supreme Court collegium had recommended their elevation last month.
A set of Law Ministry statements said 29 Additional Judges from the Bombay High Court, 13 from Calcutta, 11 from Andhra Pradesh/Telangana, six each from Kerala and Chhattisgarh, five from Karnataka and one from Patna stand elevated as permanent judges.
Officials of the Department of Justice present at the press conference of Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda earlier this week had told reporters that out of 89 recommendations to elevate additional Judges of High Courts as permanent Judges, 66 files have been cleared by the Government.
They had said 115 names for appointments and elevations are in the pipeline at the moment.
Justice Karnan had on February 15 stayed his transfer order from Madras High Court to Calcutta High Court, a development which took place after the apex court had asked the Chief Justice of Madras High Court not to assign any judicial work to him.
The same day the apex court had suspended Justice Karnan’s order and made it clear that all administrative and judicial orders passed by him after the issuance of proposal of his transfer from Madras High Court to Calcutta High Court shall remain stayed till further orders. (PTI)
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