[Reader-list] A Supreme Court Judge on caste in judiciary

[Anuj Bhuwania]

Hi,

In the context of the breathtaking arrogance displayed by Justice
Arijit Passayat of the Supreme Court in refusing to reconsider its
erroneous order injuncting reservation for OBCs in Central educational
institutions, and the rather different response from Chief Justice
Balakrishnan yesterday, I think its high time we started discussing
the caste character of the higher judiciary itself. Of course, broader
social representation  is not necessarily a pancea for the "judicial
emergency" that increasingly seems to prevail in India.

To initiate a  discussion on this issue, I am giving a link below to an
extract from an astonishing SC judgment, in the SCAORA case, the
famous case where the SC gave itself the power to appoint judges of
the higher judiciary in India.  The extract is  a separate concurring
judgment filed by Justice Ratnavel Pandian. Pandian cited data
regarding SC/ST and OBC judges in the High Courts and the Supreme
Court, and reproduced them in his judgement to make his point.  (By
the way, J. Pandian is the same judge who gave the majority opinion
upholding the constitutionality of TADA) . Apart from this, I am not
aware
of any recent data and this too is dated 1993, compiling the caste
make-up of the higher judiciary in India.

http://www.altlawforum.org/Resources/judicial_nineties/Pandian

Anuj