Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Law & Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal informed Parliament that out of 698 High Court judges appointed since 2018, 108 are women..He added that 22 appointees in this timeframe belong to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, 15 to the Scheduled Tribe (ST) community, 87 to Other Backward Classes (OBC), and 37 come from minority communities..The Ministry responded to a query by Member of Parliament Neeraj Dangi regarding the percentage of SC/ST judges among the total appointed judges in courts across the country state-wise, and the steps being taken by the government to appoint more women and SC/ST judges in High Courts.The response states that such data on judges from the district judiciary is not centrally maintained.However, since 2018, the recommendees for the post of High Court Judges are required to provide details regarding their social background in the prescribed format (prepared in consultation with the Supreme Court), the Ministry clarified..As per data provided by the Law Ministry, out of a total of 20,466 judges in district and subordinate courts, 3,871 judges belong to the SC/ST category, making up 19% of the total strength..To the question regarding the number of judges appointed per lakh people as per the judge-to-population ratio in the country, the Ministry replied,"Based on the population as per Census 2011 which was 1210.19 million and as per available information regarding sanctioned strength of Judges in Supreme Court, High Courts and District & Subordinate Courts as on 31.12.2024, the judge - population ratio in the country works out to be approximately 21 Judges per million population.".[Read Here]
