Indu Malhotra: First woman lawyer to be directly promoted as SC judge

The Supreme Court collegium led by Chief Justice of India (CI) Dipak Misra has unanimously recommended name of senior advocate Indu Malhotra for appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court. With this, she becomes first woman lawyer from the country to be directly elected for post of judge of the Supreme Court.
Overall she will be seventh woman judge in SC, since it was established 67 years ago. In 1989, Justice M. Fathima Beevi became first woman judge in Supreme Court. At present, Justice R. Banumathi is lone woman judge in SC which currently has a strength of 25 judges of total sanctioned strength of 31 (including 31).

Indu Malhotra

Indu Malhotra is reputed senior advocate practising in SC or the past 30 years. She was born in 1956 in Bengaluru, Karnataka to noted advocate Om Prakash Malhotra.
She joined the legal profession in 1983 and later secured first position in Advocate-on-Record exam for Supreme Court. She has specialised in law of arbitration and has appeared in various domestic and international commercial arbitrations. She has authored Commentary on the Law and Practice of Arbitration in India (2014).
In 2007, she became second woman to be designated as senior advocate by SC only after legendary Justice Leila Seth, who was given honour in 1977. She is on board of trustees in SaveLIFE Foundation and represented NGO in case which resulted in SC passing a slew of laws to protect good Samaritans, who save lives in road accidents.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2018