Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Sunday (March 8, 2026) batted for greater institutional reforms in the judiciary to bring more women into the legal field and said that high court collegiums should consider meritorious women members of the Bar for judgeship as a norm and not as an exception.
India needs more women judges in the Supreme Court
Addressing an event, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) underlined that members of the Bar must acknowledge and accept a simple reality: women members are not seeking concessions.
"They are seeking fair and appropriate representation, which has long been due. Only when the profession itself internalises this truth, will the pathway to the Bench become clearer," he said to applause from women lawyers and members of the judiciary at the first national conference of Indian Women in Law on the topic "Half the Nation – Half the Bench Bridge the gap – Balance the Bench.
The CJI requested the High Court collegiums to widen the zone of their consideration and include women advocates from their states who are practising in the Supreme Court for elevation.
