'Bound By Supreme Court Order': Oudh Bar Association To Decide On 30% Women's Quota At July AGM, Allahabad HC Told
Sparsh Upadhyay
6 Jun 2026 12:16 PM IST
The Oudh Bar Association (OBA) recently submitted before the Allahabad High Court that it is bound by the Supreme Court's 2025 direction mandating a 30% reservation for women as office-bearers or executive members in Bar Associations.
Appearing before a bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Manjive Shukla, the Association's office bearers submitted that a final decision on which specific posts will be reserved will be taken at its upcoming Annual General Meeting scheduled for July 2026.
Posting the matter for July 13, the bench has directed the Association to inform about the decisions taken on the next date of hearing.
The bench was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea moved by a practising Advocate, Divya Tripathi alias Divya Mishra.
The PIL Plea seeks reservation for women members of the Oudh Bar Association, High Court, Lucknow, in light of various orders passed by the Supreme Court.
Responding to the PIL plea, Senior Advocate HGS Parihar and Advocates RC Tewari, Pt S Chandra, President of the OBA, along with Lalit Kishore Tewari, Secretary of the OBA, submitted that the petition is premature.
However, it was admitted that, being bound by the Top Court's order, the Association would consider the issue at its Annual General Meeting, proposed for July 2025. It is also assured that it would consider the suggestions of the PIL petitioner.
In view of this, the bench posted the matter for July 13 while recording the submission made by the OBA:
"Oudh Bar Association accepts the fact that it is bound by the 30% reservation, as prescribed by Hon'ble the Supreme Court in the above mentioned case, and proposes to consider the matter further as to which of the posts are to be reserved in compliance thereof in the ensuing Annual General Meeting to be held in July, 2026, and in this regard the suggestions of the petitioner would also be considered, therefore, we post this matter in the second week of July, 2026," the Court recorded in its short order.
