Senior advocate Indu Malhotra, the first woman lawyer to be recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium for an apex court judgeship, has decided to resume her legal practice.
It has been over two months since the Collegium led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra unanimously recommended her name along with Uttarakhand Chief Justice K.M. Joseph for appointment as Supreme Court judges.
Both files have been pending with the government ever since.
A highly placed source in the Supreme Court said Ms. Malhotra has not withdrawn her consent for Supreme Court judgeship but decided to resume her practice as an advocate till the government takes a decision in her case.
She was spotted arguing a case before a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice Misra on Monday.
Normally, a government decision on the appointment of a Supreme Court judge takes a maximum of two weeks, but the government’s delay in her and Justice Joseph’s cases has prolonged to over two months. The Collegium had recommended their names to the government for appointment on January 10, 2018.
The decision of the Collegium to recommend Ms. Malhotra was a rare recognition of her professional talent. If appointed, Ms. Malhotra would be only the seventh woman judge in the Supreme Court’s 68-year-old history.
Justice Banumathi is presently the sole woman in the Supreme Court judiciary.
Gender imbalance
Ms. Malhotra was the Supreme Court Collegium’s answer to criticism for not bringing more women judges into its fold, even as more and more gender-sensitive and women-centric cases reach the Supreme Court for adjudication.
On the other hand, there have been reports that the government has been reluctant to appoint Justice Joseph, who quashed the declaration of President’s rule in Uttarakhand in 2016. A decision on Ms. Malhotra’s case may have been delayed because her file was sent with that of Justice Joseph’s.
