Ram Vilas Paswan pitches for quota in judiciary

Patna : Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan has pitched for increasing the reservation for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes and other backward class (OBCs) in the judiciary.

To meet this goal, the Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, while addressing a national conference of Dalit Sena on Saturday to mark the Ambedkar Jayanti here, recommended setting up an Indian judicial service for the selection of the representatives in the Supreme and the High Court.

"Ideally, there should be a reservation in Indian judiciary but if we demand this the Supreme Court will say it is unconstitutional. So, Indian judicial service should be set up. Let there be a competitive exam," Paswan said.

He said there are fewer representatives belonging to the backward communities in the high courts and the Supreme Court as a result of which the SC/ST people and OBCs face a lot of problems.

The demand for All India Judicial Service (AIJS) was raked up last month too, just days after the Supreme Court issued a slew of guidelines concerning SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, which allegedly diluted the Act and led to public outcry, especially among Dalit community.

The anger resulted in violent protests during Bharat Bandh on April 2 and at least eight people died in various parts of the country.