Supreme Court Orders 30% Women's Reservation In State Bar Councils; Allows Co-option In 10% Seats

In a significant order, the Supreme Court on Monday directed that 30% of the seats in the State Bar Councils - where elections are yet to be notified- must be represented by women advocates.For the present year, the Court ordered that 20% of the seats should be filled by way of election of women members, and 10% by co-option. The Court directed that a proposal for co-option be placed before it with respect to councils where the number of women may be inadequate.The Court observed that it may not be prudent to earmark seats for women in the six bar councils where the election process has already started."However, we have to ensure that women members who are contesting/proposing to contest elections in those four Bar Councils of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab & Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana, will contest the elections with full spirit, and the advocate-voters will also make an endeavour to ensure that adequate representation is provided to the women members of the bar. The elections to the Bar Councils of Bihar and Chhattisgarh are also notified. So these two bar councils are also to be excluded.In so far as the remaining Bar Councils, it is directed that 30% seats shall be represented by the women members of the bar association, out of 20% shall be filled by way of election and 10% by way of co-option. A proposal regarding co-option shall be placed before this Court. Wherever the women members of the bar are reluctant to come forward to contest the 20% seats, the process of co-option in such bar councils will also be undertaken so that eventually women get 30% representation," the Court observed in the order.A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi passed the order in petitions filed by Yogamaya MG and Shehla Chaudhary seeking women's reservation in Bar Councils. Last week, the Court had told the Bar Council of India to take steps to ensure 30% women's representation in State Bar Councils. The Court had asked the BCI to come out with a proposal by today.Today, Senior Advocate Manan Kumar Mishra, the Chairperson of the BCI, submitted that the BCI, in principle, is of the view that there should be at least 30% women's reservation in the State Bar Council. However, for the present year, the Bar Councils should be permitted to fill up the posts by co-opting women candidates. He proposed that 15% of seats be filled by way of co-option of women members. However, the bench said that co-option be restricted to only 10% seats. Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora submitted that a blanket order for 30% women's reservation across all State Bar Councils may not be practical, as many states have very low percentages of practising women advocates. Senior Advocate Shobha Gupta and Adv Sriram Parakkat appeared for petitioner Yogamaya. Advocate Dr.Charu Mathur appeared for the other petitioner, Shehla Chaudhary.Co-chairman of the Tamil Nadu Bar Council, K Balu, filed an intervention application through Karunakaran AoR, supporting 30 per cent representation. The senior counsel appearing for him submitted that there is a "once a chairman is always a chairman" situation, which needs to change.Vinay Navare, senior counsel, appeared for Jan Adalat, an NGO of lawyers working for the lawyers' cause, which also filed an intervention.Case Details : YOGAMAYA M.G. Vs UNION OF INDIA | W.P.(C) No. 581/2024 and SHEHLA CHAUDHARY v. UNION OF INDIA W.P.(C) No. 1060/2025 Click Here To Read/Download Order

Supreme Court Orders 30% Women's Reservation In State Bar Councils; Allows Co-option In 10% Seats

Anmol Kaur Bawa

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