MP High Court Halts Rewa District Bar Association Election Over Non-Compliance With SC Order On 30% Women Representation In Bar Bodies

The Madhya Pradesh High Court in an interim order on Tuesday (March 25) restrained the District Bar Association Rewa from conducting elections till further orders, citing non-compliance with the Supreme Court's January decision mandating 30% women's reservation in the executive committee of the Bar Association. The division bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf directed; "The polling for the said election is scheduled to be held on 25/3/2026. In view of the mandated directions issued by the Supreme Court to ensure that there is 30% reservation of women as office bearers / executive members in the executive committee of the Bar Association, we restrain the Bar Association from holding the elections for the District Bar Association Rewa, which is scheduled to be held on 25/3/2026, till the next date of hearing". The directions came in a petition filed by a female advocate challenging the notification of March 7, 2026, issued by the District Advocates' Association, Rewa. The petitioner contended that the election process failed to provide the mandatory 30% reservation for women candidates. The bench had taken up the matter in the morning and sought clarification on whether the upcoming elections provided the required reservation. Upon examining the records, the court found that the women's reservation was significantly inadequate, at only 10%. The High Court further reiterated the Supreme Court's directions in Deeksha N Amrutesh v State of Karnataka, wherein it mandated 30% reservation for women lawyers as Office Bearers/executive members in District/Taluka or any other type of Bar Association. These directions were issued in a petition filed by a women's advocate challenging the notification of March 7, 2026, issued by the District Advocates' Association, Rewa, on the ground that there was no reservation of 30% granted to women. The bench further highlighted that the Supreme Court, after noticing that in certain bar associations, elections were held after 24/3/2025 without taking any women members as office bearers or providing them adequate representation, issued further directions to the Registrar General of all High Courts to collect the correct facts with respect to every bar association within their territorial jurisdiction and submit a compliance report to the court.In March 2026, the Supreme Court further directed the High Courts to ensure that, within all bar associations in their respective jurisdictions, at least 30% of the members of the bar who are involved in the elections of the governing or election body of the bar association are women. It further clarified that where the number of women lawyers enrolled with such bar associations falls significantly short of 30%, those available may serve on their governing body. Additionally, the Supreme Court further mandated that where there are enough women members and for some reason they could not contest elections, the District Judges were authorised to nominate women members to the executive committee or the respective bar association within their jurisdiction.The Supreme Court has directed the Registrar General to forward the report in respect of any reservation being shown at any level of a particular sub-division or district by any bar association. In the present case, the high court noted that despite these binding directions, no provision for 30% reservation has been made in the Rewa District Bar Association and thus, halted the elections until further order. The case is scheduled for further hearing on April 8. Case Title: Jatinder Kaur v Bar Council of MP [WP - 10351/2026 (O)]

MP High Court Halts Rewa District Bar Association Election Over Non-Compliance With SC Order On 30% Women Representation In Bar Bodies

Jayanti Pahwa

Tags