Dalit underrepresentation in higher judiciary is defended as a merit issue

Evidence

Former President K.R. Narayanan, a Dalit himself, was mocked by the judicial fraternity when he suggested that Scheduled Castes and Tribes, who according to the 2011 Census make up 25 per cent of India’s 1.2 billion population, should find proportionate representation as judges in the Supreme Court. “Eligible persons from these categories are available and their under-representation or non-representation would not be justifiable,” he said in 1999. “Any reservation in judiciary is a threat to its independence and the rule of law,” was the response of a senior Supreme Court advocate. Another high-profile legal luminary said: “Job quotas are a vexed subject now. I believe the primacy of merit must be maintained.” — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 73

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

Related

• Judicial elites frame Dalit representation as a threat to merit and judicial independence (similarity 0.95)
• Dalit and Adivasi judges are almost absent from India’s High Courts. (similarity 0.82)
• Judicial services show near-zero Dalit representation even in socially progressive states (similarity 0.80)