Lawyers' body seeks more judges from SC, ST, women, Muslims

Bombay Lawyers' Association today urged President Pranab Mukherjee to take initiative in "creating a moral force in favour of appointing" more persons from among the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, Muslims and the women to the higher judiciary.
Scheduled castes and tribes, Muslims and women have received hardly any representation in the higher judiciary even after 65 years of independence, said Ahmed Abidi, president of BLA, in a letter to the President.
Abidi pointed out that recently the Supreme Court had lamented that some sections of the society were not represented at all in High Courts and the apex court.
The letter alleged that absence of representation for large sections of people in the higher judiciary was not a matter of accident but of "deliberate design and policy".

"Higher judiciary has held, despite the mandate of our Constitution, that reservations will not apply to it. Had reservations been in force, as they are in all other fields of national activity, we would have created a pool of competent persons from among disadvantaged groups," it said.