NEW DELHI: India's first woman additional solicitor general Indira Jaising criticized the Centre's decision to drop several "competent" women lawyers from its panel for handling government litigation in the Supreme Court and asked law minister Ashwani Kumar whether they needed a 'godfather' to succeed in the legal profession.
Recent changes in the panel of lawyers made Jaising, who is among a handful of women lawyers designated as senior advocates in the country, write to the law minister complaining that though the government took pride in empowering women through various steps, the dropping of 'competent' women lawyers from the central government panel had sent a wrong message.
"This can only send a very wrong message to the (legal) profession as a whole and to women in particular that there is no place for them in the profession. Even otherwise, the perception among people is that only those with powerful godfathers or godmothers (of which there may be very few) can progress in the profession," Jaising said.
She said this perception needed urgent correction and a message ought to be sent out loud and clear if "we mean to encourage competent lawyers and women in particular". "Several women I know who have assisted me competently have been dropped from the panels with no notice or appreciable reason," she said, justifying her angst against the alleged arbitrary dropping of women lawyers from the panels.
She clarified that she was not advocating priority for women but said the government needed to guard against them being discriminated against in a systemic manner. "I recognize that 'merit' and 'competence' must be the guiding principles in making appointments and selection, but it is a matter of common knowledge that 'merit' itself is not a neutral word but a social construct, which tends to entrench the privilege of the privileged.
"I have no doubt that women lawyers can assist in formulating policies which are just and fair to all concerned," she said while expressing concern over the dismal representation of women in the legal profession.
"They are also grossly underrepresented in the judiciary. Indeed, one would expect that they constitute at least 50% of the judiciary as they do in population. There is need to address these issues on an urgent basis," she added.
"A glance at the number of women designated senior counsel show that there are only four to five such designated seniors in the Supreme Court. This is the position in all the high courts as well. All these issues do require the attention of policy makers and of law makers," she further said.
In another letter addressed to the Chief Justice of India, Jaising requested Justice Altamas Kabir to explore the possibility of providing a creche facility within the Supreme Court for women lawyers who may want to leave their toddlers there while attending to work in the court.
dhananjay.mahapatra@timesgroup.com
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What women's empowerment when competent ones dropped from govt panel: Indira Jaising
