New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the demand for providing quota for Scheduled Castes in the appointment of judges to the High Court on the ground that they are unrepresented in the higher judiciary.
A bench of Chief justice T.S. Thakur and Justices A.K. Sikri and Ms. R. Banumathi dismissed a writ petition filed by Registrar General of Uttarakhand High Court, Kanta Prasad, who claimed that though he belonged to SC he was not being considered for elevation as a judge of the High Court.
The CJI told the counsel “there is no quota for SC for elevation. You can be considered as and when you are due for consideration for elevation. Supreme Court can’t pass a judicial order providing for reservation for SC in judiciary. It is an executive order to be passed by the government.
An SC can be appointed as a judge of the High Court even from the Bar and you can’t say that such appointment should be only from service candidates.” At present Judges are appointed to the High Court concerned in the ration of 2:1 from among the lawyers and senior district judges by the High Court collegium headed by the Chief Justice.
Though all communities are to be broadly represented in the judiciary there is no quota provided for such appointments.
