Court Diversity: SC and ST High Court Judges Appointments Since 2018

Since 2018, 21 out of 661 appointed high court judges belong to the Scheduled Caste category and 12 to the Scheduled Tribe category. Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal informed the Rajya Sabha about the composition and emphasized the absence of reservation provisions in the Constitution for judicial appointments.

Informed sources revealed that since 2018, a total of 21 judges from the Scheduled Caste (SC) category and 12 judges from the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category have been appointed out of 661 high court judges. This information was presented to the Rajya Sabha by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Thursday.

In his written reply, Meghwal also disclosed that the salaries, pensions, and allowances for Supreme Court and high court judges were last updated effective January 1, 2016, and that there are currently no plans to increase these remunerations.

The Law Minister highlighted that the provisions of the Constitution do not mandate reservations for any caste or class when appointing judges. Yet, since 2018, candidates for high court judge positions have been required to submit details about their social backgrounds, following a format created in consultation with the Supreme Court.

In response to another query, Meghwal noted that since May 2014, 62 judges have been appointed to the apex court. Additionally, the sanctioned number of high court judges has risen from 906 in 2014 to 1,114, with 976 judges appointed since that year. The sanctioned strength of the district judiciary has also increased significantly from 19,518 judicial officers in 2014 to 25,523 as of now.