Indu Malhotra, first woman lawyer to be directly promoted as Supreme Court judge

The senior advocate Indu Malhotra has been recommended as a judge of the Supreme Court by the collegium of Supreme Court.

Indu Malhotra would become the first woman lawyer to be directly appointed as a judge of the highest court.

Along with Indu Malhotra, Justice K M Joseph has also been cleared for elevation to the apex court. Justice K M Joseph is presently chief justice of Uttarakhand High Court.

In 2004, Justice Joseph was appointed as Permanent Judge in the Kerala High Court and later transferred to Uttarakhand High Court as a Chief Justice in 2014.

The SC collegium also recommended the name of Justice Sheo Kumar Singh-I, presently an Additional Judge, for appointment as a Permanent Judge of the Allahabad High Court.

The Collegium led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra has four senior-most judges of the apex court -- Justices J Chelameswar, Madan B Lokur, Ranjan Gogoi,  and Kurian Joseph.

About Indu Malhotra
In 2007, Indu Malhotra became the 2nd woman to be designated as a senior advocate, and now she would be the first woman lawyer to be directly appointed as a judge of the apex court.

She joined the legal profession in 1983 and later secured the first position in the Advocate-on-Record exam for the Supreme Court.

Indu Malhotra will be the 7th woman judge since independence to make it to the Supreme Court. At present, Justice R Banumathi is the lone woman judge in the apex court.

Since Independence, only six women judges have made it to the Supreme Court as judges and the first appointment was of Justice M Fathima Beevi in 1989.

Justice M Fathima Beevi was appointed to apex court 39 years after the setting up of the Supreme Court in 1950.

In the 67-year history of the Supreme Court, there have been only two occasions when it has had two sitting women judges together, the first being Justices Misra and Desai and later Justices Desai and Banumathi.

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