Parliament Question: Representation of SCs/STs and OBCs in judiciary

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 116 ANSWERED ON-29/01/2026 Representation of SCs/STs and OBCs in judiciary

116. Prof. Manoj Kumar Jha:

Will the Minister of Law and Justice be pleased to state:

(a) the number of vacancies of judges in the Supreme Court and High Courts against the sanctioned strength, State-wise;

(b) the number of SC/ST/OBC judges in the Supreme Court and the percentage of representation of SCs/STs and OBCs;

(c) the number of SC/ST/OBC judges in High Courts across the country, State-wise along with the percentage of representation of SCs/STs and OBCs;

(d) the details of criteria for sanctioning the number of posts in a district; and

(e) the year in which population was considered for sanctioning existing number of sanctioned posts? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE; AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL)

(a) to (e): The information is at Annexure-I and Annexure-II.

Appointment of Judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts is made under Articles 124, 217 and 224 of the Constitution of India, which do not provide for reservation for any caste or class of persons. Therefore, category-wise data pertaining to representation of any caste or class of persons among the Judges of Supreme Court and High Courts is not centrally available. 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). As per the information provided by the recommendees, out of 847 Judges appointed from 2018 1till 23.01.2026, 33 belong to SC category, 17 belong to ST category, 104 belong to OBC category and 46 belong to the minority category. 130 women were appointed as Judges in various High Courts during the same period.

As per the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP), the responsibility for initiation of proposals for appointment of Judges in the Supreme Court vests with the Chief Justice of India, while the responsibility for initiation of proposals for appointment of Judges in the High Courts vests with the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court. However, the Government is committed to enhancing social diversity in judiciary and has been requesting the Chief Justices of High Courts that while sending proposals for appointment of Judges, due consideration be given to suitable candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Minorities and Women to ensure social diversity in the appointment of Judges in High Courts. Only those persons who are recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium, are appointed as Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts.

In so far as the District and subordinate judiciary is concerned, as per the Constitutional framework, in exercise of powers conferred under proviso to Article 309 read with Articles 233 and 234 of the Constitution, the State Governments in consultation with the respective High Courts frame the rules and regulations regarding appointment and recruitment of Judicial Officers in the respective State Judicial Service. The issues relating to fixation of strength, selection and appointment of Judicial Officers in the Subordinate/District Courts is in the domain of the High Courts and State Governments concerned.

*** 2ANNEXURE-I Sanctioned strength, working strength, vacancies of Judges in the Supreme Court of India and the High Courts (As on 27.01.2026) Sanctioned Strength Working Strength Vacancy A. Supreme Court 34 33 1 B. High Court 1 Allahabad 160 110 50 2 Andhra Pradesh 37 32 5 3 Bombay 94 80 14 4 Calcutta 72 43 29 5 Chhattisgarh 22 15 7 6 Delhi 60 44 16 7 Gauhati 30 25 5 8 Gujarat 52 35 17 9 Himachal Pradesh 17 12 5 10 J & K and Ladakh 25 14 11 11 Jharkhand 25 14 11 12 Karnataka 62 46 16 13 Kerala 47 40 7 14 Madhya Pradesh 53 42 11 15 Madras 75 53 22 16 Manipur 5 3 2 17 Meghalaya 4 4 0 18 Orissa 33 19 14 19 Patna 53 38 15 20 Punjab & Haryana 85 61 24 21 Rajasthan 50 39 11 22 Sikkim 3 3 0 23 Telangana 42 28 14 24 Tripura 5 4 1 25 Uttarakhand 11 10 1 Total 1122 814 308 3Annexure -II Working Strength of SC/ST/OBC in District and Subordinate Court as on 21.01.2026 Sl. States & UT Civil Judge (Junior Civil Judge (Senior District Judge/DJ Total Total % of No. Division) Division) SC/ST/ Working SC/ST/OBC OBC Strength of total Working Strength SC ST OBC SC ST OBC SC ST OBC Andaman and 1 Nicobar 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 2 Andhra Pradesh 53 18 122 19 9 46 36 5 55 363 572 63.46 3 Arunachal Pradesh 0 13 0 0 15 0 0 10 1 39 39 100 4 Assam 16 23 0 12 21 0 6 7 0 85 461 18.44 5 Bihar 134 5 299 66 5 105 53 4 75 746 1665 44.8 6 Chandigarh 9 0 2 0 0 1 1 0 1 14 29 48.28 7 Chhattisgarh 26 57 27 17 45 26 30 26 37 291 465 62.58 8 D & N Haveli 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 2 100 9 Daman & Diu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 25 10 Delhi 41 33 0 17 2 0 12 3 0 108 837 12.9 11 Goa 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 40 10 12 Gujarat 59 1 34 50 4 151 8 0 33 340 1185 28.69 13 Haryana 42 0 57 41 0 18 21 0 21 200 649 30.82 14 Himachal Pradesh 11 5 7 8 4 6 5 1 2 49 172 28.49 Jammu and 15 Kashmir 13 11 3 6 7 1 9 5 2 57 270 21.11 16 Jharkhand 15 31 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 62 497 12.47 17 Karnataka 73 18 269 93 21 265 60 8 189 996 1129 88.22 18 Kerala 22 3 120 11 1 49 10 1 123 340 577 58.93 19 Ladakh 0 2 0 0 4 0 0 1 1 8 9 88.89 20 Lakshadweep 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 3 4 75 21 Madhya Pradesh 101 29 115 80 113 81 82 90 112 803 1639 48.99 22 Maharashtra 140 2 266 43 3 128 44 2 106 734 1940 37.84 23 Manipur 0 6 3 0 4 2 0 4 0 19 49 38.78 24 Meghalaya 0 15 0 0 21 0 0 18 0 54 57 94.74 25 Mizoram 0 13 0 0 17 0 0 15 0 45 45 100 26 Nagaland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 24 0 27 Odisha 33 5 75 0 0 5 0 0 0 118 649 18.18 28 Puducherry 3 0 12 0 0 4 0 0 4 23 26 88.46 29 Punjab 100 0 53 49 0 25 33 0 20 280 702 39.89 30 Rajasthan 100 66 129 59 54 87 58 24 92 669 1490 44.9 31 Sikkim 0 1 3 0 2 3 0 5 9 23 23 100 32 Tamil Nadu 132 9 426 80 5 274 43 1 235 1205 1234 97.65 33 Telangana 38 20 96 15 7 48 15 13 55 307 445 68.99 34 Tripura 5 6 0 5 10 0 5 6 0 37 119 31.09 35 Uttar Pradesh 212 16 298 135 15 189 187 7 355 1414 2640 53.56 36 Uttarakhand 16 3 13 12 4 15 18 5 9 95 270 35.19 37 West Bengal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 863 0 TOTAL 1,395 413 2,446 818 394 1,532 736 261 1,539 9534 20,833 45.76

Source: MIS Portal of Department of Justice 4