The glass ceiling is finally broken. The Supreme Court got three women judges, including Justice Nagarathna, who is in line to become India’s first woman chief justice (CJI) in Sep 2027.
Before this, only eight women, including sitting judge Justice Indira Banerjee, were appointed as apex court judges within the history of the top court, beginning with Justice M Fathima Beevi in 1989.
With the swearing-in of 3 women judges, justices Hima Kohli, B V Nagarathna and Bela M Trivedi, which happened for the first time within the apex court’s history, the top court will have as several as four-woman judges on its bench at the same time, another first to its credit.
Across twenty-six high courts, there are solely eighty-two women judges out of 1,079. Madras tops the list with thirteen, followed by Punjab and Haryana, with eleven women judges each.
Delhi and Mumbai have eight women judges each. Each in Gauhati, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Sikkim.
Even attorney General KK Venugopal had batted for the inclusion of more ladies judges within the judicial system.
He also cited inclined gender inequality in the designation of lawyers as senior advocates.
There are solely seventeen ladies senior advocates within the high court, as compared to 403 men.
In Delhi judicature, there are only eight women selected as seniors, whereas 229 are men. In Mumbai judicature, there are 157 senior male advocates and only six ladies.
CJI N V Ramana administered nine new judges the oath of office. Besides Justices Kohli, Nagarathna and Trivedi, others sworn-in are Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, Vikram Nath, Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari, CT Ravikumar, mm Sundresh and ps Narasimha.
Amongst them, Justice Nath and Justice Narasimha will become CJIs in the close to future. The strength of the Supreme Court has currently up to thirty-three, including the CJI, out of the sanctioned strength of thirty-four.
“This is for the first time within the history of the Supreme Court of India when 9 judges are taking the Oath of office in one go,” the apex court had said.
The long-standing demand of citizens and rights activists to have a lady CJI will also be fulfilled for the first time within independent India’s history as Justice Nagarathna would be the first woman chief justice of India (CJI) in Sep 2027.
In another 1st, the ceremony venue was shifted to the newly-built area rather than the CJI’s court, the commonplace for such a ceremony.
The apex court, hearing cases through video-conferencing since March last year because of the pandemic, once more for the first time, held such a perform allowing invitees to take part physically after the onset of COVID.
Again for the first time, the oath ceremony, which had been accessible to only people who were present within the CJI’s court, was telecast and webcast simultaneously.
The new judges administered the oath of office as apex court judges embody Justices Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, Vikram Nath, Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari, Hima Kohli and B V Nagarathna.
Besides, the CJI conjointly administered the oath of office to Justices C T Ravikumar, M M Sundresh, Bela M Trivedi and P S Narasimha, a senior advocate and former additional solicitor general.
Justice Hima Kohli was the justice of the Telangana high court before being appointed as a judge of the top court.
Justice Nagarathna was a judge of the Karnataka high court before being elevated to the apex court.
She is in line to become the CJI in Sep 2027 and would have a tenure of over a month as the head of the judiciary.
Justice Trivedi, born in June 1960, was a judge of the Gujarat high court before being elevated to the apex court, and she belonged to the judicial service category.
