Former Chief Justice of India N. V. Ramana said the government lacked intent to achieve gender parity despite women forming forty percent of trial court judiciary. He said, “Government showed casual attitude appointing women judges in higher courts.”
Former Chief Justice of India N. V. Ramana said that the government has not shown enough intent or determination to achieve gender parity in constitutional courts, even though women make up nearly 40 percent of the judiciary at the trial court level.
He made the comments during an interactive session at the first national conference of Indian Women in Law (iWiL), held at the Supreme Court of India to mark International Women’s Day.
Pointing out the gap in representation, Justice Ramana noted that while women have gained ground in the lower judiciary, their presence remains disproportionately low in the higher judiciary, particularly in High Courts and the Supreme Court.
During the question-and-answer session, he said
“The government always showed a casual attitude in appointments of women as judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts,”
During his tenure as Chief Justice from April 2021 to August 2022, three women were appointed to the Supreme Court a landmark development.
Earlier, On August 31, 2021, Justices Hima Kohli, Bela M. Trivedi and B. V. Nagarathna were sworn in as apex court judges. Since then, however, no additional woman judge has been appointed to the Supreme Court, despite five successive Chief Justices: U. U. Lalit, D. Y. Chandrachud, Sanjiv Khanna, B. R. Gavai and the current CJI Surya Kant.
Notably, Justice B. V. Nagarathna is expected to become the first woman Chief Justice of India on September 24, 2027.
Speaking in Justice Nagarathna’s presence, Justice Ramana observed that two future Chief Justices were at the event Justice Nagarathna and Justice P. S. Narasimha, who is expected to follow her and expressed the hope that “at least seven to eight women judges would be appointed to the Supreme Court” during their tenures.
Justice Nagarathna responded by assuring him she would make sincere efforts to increase women’s representation on the apex court. (She is due to retire on October 29, 2027.)
Explaining his view about the government’s lack of will, Justice Ramana said successive Union law ministers had often asked Chief Justices of High Courts to recommend women advocates and judicial officers for elevation. Still, he maintained, the government had not pressed strongly enough to ensure meaningful representation among those recommendations.
Justice Ramana also highlighted the stark numerical imbalance in the higher judiciary: women make up roughly 40 percent of judicial officers in the subordinate judiciary, yet their numbers shrink sharply in constitutional courts.
Across High Courts there are only 116 women judges against a sanctioned strength of 1,122, and in the Supreme Court with a sanctioned strength of 34 there is currently just one woman judge.
He added that responsibility for this skewed representation should not rest solely with the government.
Observing that most major metropolitan centres have a substantial pool of capable women lawyers who could be appointed to High Court benches, he said,
“The judiciary must respond with sincerity towards inclusivity as there is no dearth of talented women lawyers who can be High Court judges,”
He added,
“Except for a few High Courts, in most major metropolitan centres there exists a large pool of highly competent women lawyers. It is very worrisome why these numbers are not reflected in judicial appointments,”
In a related development, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant urged High Court collegiums nationwide to take proactive steps to raise women’s representation on the Bench, calling for more active consideration of women advocates for judicial posts.
Speaking on International Women’s Day at the iWiL Conference, organized by senior advocates Pavani Mahalakshmi and Shobha Gupta under the theme “Half the Nation, Half the Bench,” the CJI also cautioned collegiums against mechanically rejecting candidates simply for not meeting prescribed age criteria.
He stressed that the judiciary must take concrete action to improve women’s representation,
“High Court collegiums must recognize that the moment for measured action is not in the future, it is now, and when suitable women are available at the Bar, their consideration should not be an exception but a norm.”
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