-In the history of Indian judiciary, first time the Supreme Court collegium on 11 January, recommended senior advocate Indu Malhotra as the first woman lawyer to be directly appointed as a judge of the Supreme court of India.
-Indu Malhotra is a senior advocate practising in the Supreme Court for the last 30 years. She was the second woman, to be designated senior advocate by the apex court in 2007. The first woman senior advocate of the supreme court of India was Leila Seth, mother of author Vikram Seth, who became a senior in 1977.
-Indu Malhotra will be one of only seven women judges that the apex court has had so far since 1947.
-At present, Justice R Banumathi is the only woman judge in the Supreme Court.
-In 1989, Justice M Fathima Beevi became the first woman to be appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of India. Latter, Justice Sujata V Manohar, Justice Ruma Pal, Justice Gyan Sudha Misra and Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai succeeded to reach the apex court as judges.
Senior advocate designation process: Section 17 of the Advocates Act of 1961 empowers both the Supreme Court and High Courts to designate practising advocates with a 10-year standing in the Bar and those who have completed 45 years of age as senior advocates. The original Act required designation only on the basis of experience and standing at the Bar. However, with an amendment in 1993, the requirement has since been “standing at the Bar or special knowledge of experience in Law.”
