Caste Matters

by Suraj Yengde

The judiciary adds to the unrepresentative character of Indian democracy and state machinery. In the twenty-four high courts in India, there is not a single Dalit or Adivasi chief justice. No Dalit judge has been elevated to the Supreme Court since K.G. Balakrishnan in 2010. According to an Indian Express report, the Supreme Court collegium responsible for the appointments of judges and promotion to the superior courts does not have clarity on the rules and criteria.38 There are indications of nepotism and parivaarwad in judicial appointments. More than 70 per cent of the judges are connected in one way or another to 132 families.39 One report by Outlook magazine stated that eleven out of twenty-eight sitting Supreme Court judges had relatives within the law fraternity.40 In the Allahabad High Court, the appointment of nineteen judges in 1999 indicated nepotism. Of the nineteen, two were sons of former Supreme Court judges, another two were offspring of former advocate generals, one was the son-in-law of a former high court judge and one a junior advocate of the former chief justice.41 The Ministry of Law and Justice released information on the representation of gender diversity in the appointment of judges.42 Although the communiqué stated information on women/SC/ST/minority judges, it did not explicate the representation of SC, ST and OBC judges, stating that ‘no caste- or class-wise data of judges is maintained’ owing to the nature of their appointments under Articles 1...