“It’s a matter of law, not charity”: CJI Ramana asks lawyers to demand 50% reservation in July

Through PTI

NEW DELHI: India’s Chief Justice NV Ramana on Sunday urged female lawyers to sharply increase their demand for reservations by 50 percent in the court system while assuring them of his “full support”.

“I don’t want you to cry but with anger you have to scream and demand that we need 50% reservation,” he said.

CJI said it was a matter of thousands of years of repression and that women are entitled to reservation and added: “This is a matter of law, not a matter of charity. “

He said: “I want to say that I recommend and strongly support the request for a certain percentage of reservation in all law schools in the country for women, so that they can join the judiciary.

Speaking at a congratulatory ceremony hosted by Supreme Court attorneys for the nine newly appointed justices, including three female judges, CJI Ramana said he changed Karl Marx’s quote from “The Workers of the World s ‘Unite. You have nothing to lose but your chain “for the occasion and added:” Women of the world, unite. You have nothing to lose but your chain. “

CJI said: “You are all laughing. Yes I don’t want you to cry but with anger you have to scream and demand that we need 50% reservation. This is not a small problem but a problem of thousands of years of suppression It is high time that we had 50 percent representation of women in the judiciary. You are entitled to it, it is a matter of law. It is not a question of charity. It is unfortunate that some things are happening very late. “

He said he would be “very happy” whenever the goal was reached.

“All my sisters and all of you have created exceptions for people in society and women in society and for that matter young people, whether men or women, are waiting for you and looking at you as if you are role models.

“Your successes will make them more impulsive and we expect more women to join the profession and we will soon reach the 50 percent target. I wholeheartedly support any initiative you take and as long as I am here, I will support all your causes, ”he said.

The Chief Justice of India said he believes in mingling with people, knowing their ideas in order to understand what is the problem facing society, but added these days that he is visiting many places and that he was tired of giving speeches.

“After coming back last night from Odisha, I gathered information about the system in which we are working. Across the country … on the Supreme Court, four out of 33 female judges … (that is, 11 or 12 percent), ”CJI said.

He said that out of 1.7 million lawyers in the country, only 15 percent are women and only 2 percent of elected representatives on state bar councils are women.

“The other day I said to the Chairman of the Indian Bar Council, Manan Kumar Mishra, what in your National Bar Council Committee, no woman represents, this needs to be corrected from urgently, ”he said.

CJI Ramana added that people will often easily say that it’s hard to get 50 percent reservation because women have a lot of issues, but that’s not correct.

“I agree that there is an uncomfortable environment, a lack of infrastructure, overcrowded courtrooms, a lack of toilets, a lack of nurseries and a lack of seating, which are some of the major issues that are hostile to female lawyers in the system, ”he said.

He said that after gathering information on the conditions prevailing across the country, he proposes the establishment of the Judicial Infrastructure Corporation, which is the need of the moment.

“In 6,000 courts across the country, 22% of them do not have a separate toilet (for women) and even female officers must also suffer,” CJI said.

These are the realities on the ground that we must tackle immediately and that is why I am proposing certain questions to the executive for them to take them and correct them, “he added.

Regarding the lawyers’ request to open the highest court for physical hearings that have been held virtually since the start of the pandemic, CJI said that with luck, after Dussehra’s vacation, it could resume.

“The problem is you know we have limited openness (both virtual and physical) but the majority of lawyers don’t prefer, I don’t know why but for some reason especially senior lawyers have reservations but young people and other lawyers are ready to come, ”he said.

He said lead attorney Vikas Singh, who is president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, has raised some questions about the SOP hybrid hearing and that it is being corrected and made more liberal. .

“We can expect a full opening of the courts, but the problem is we don’t want to take any risk because of the medical opinion and all of a sudden they can say there may be a third or a fourth wave. .… So you hope that there will be There are no waves and most likely after the holidays in Dussehra I think we can go for physical hearing, ”CJI Ramana said.