77% of High Court judges appointed since 2018 from upper castes: Law ministry

About 77% of all High Court judges appointed since 2018 were from the upper caste communities, according to data provided by the Union law ministry to Parliament on March 20.

Responding to a question about social diversity in the higher judiciary raised by Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Kumar Jha, the ministry said that caste-wise data of appointments is not available. This is because Supreme Court and High Court judges are appointed under articles of the Constitution that do not provide for caste-based reservations.

However, since 2018, the recommendees for High Court judge positions are mandated to provide details about their social background. Therefore, the data provided by the Union government was based on the information provided by the recommendees, said Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal.

Meghwal said that 551 of the 715 judges appointed to the High Court since 2018 were from the general category. Twenty-two (3%) of the 715 judges were from the Scheduled Castes communities, 16 (2.2%) were from Scheduled Tribes and 89 (12.4%) from the Other Backward Classes, he added.

The standing committee on law and justice had presented similar data to Parliament in August 2023.

Responding to a question in the Rajya Sabha about whether the Union government had pursued the Supreme Court to finalise the memorandum...

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