Supreme Court Applies 30% Women Reservation Rule To Punjab & Haryana Bar Council Elections

The bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Baghchi was hearing application seeking directions for ensuring that adequate women representation is there before the onset of State Bar Elections across the country in a phased format. The application is filed by Advocate Yogamaya in her writ petition.

Previously, the Court directed that 30% of the seats in the State Bar Councils - where elections are yet to be notified- must be represented by women advocates.

Today, the bench agreed to extent 30% of reservations for women in the upcoming bar council elections in Punjab & Haryana, which the Court had earlier exempted from its December 8 directions. This was directed considering that the elections have not begun and only the voter list has been finalized.

"We are satisfied that our direction in the paragraph 4 of order dated 8 December 2025 to extent of words 'Punjab & Haryana' is liable to be deleted, as the election process is yet to commence and only the voter list has been finalized, so ordered accordingly. Consequently, the 30% representation of women members as contemplated in paragraph 6 of the aforesaid order shall apply mutatis mutandis to the ensuing elections of the Bar Council of P&H High Court."

Notably, paragraph 4 of the earlier direction stated :

" We note that the elections of four Bar Councils have already been notified, and as a consequence, the election process has commenced. So, it will not be prudent to earmark the seats for the women lawyers in elections in such States. However, we are quite sure that the women members who are contesting/proposed to contest the election in these four Bar Associations, namely, of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab & Haryana, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh will contest the election 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."

As per paragraph 6 of the order, 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.

BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, Sr Advocate appeared . Sr Advocate Shobha Gupta appeared for Petitioner Yogmaya.

During the hearings, Sr Advocate Meenakshi Arora appearing for the Maharashtra Bar Council urged that for the Maharashtra Bar Council the representation maybe increased as there were 2 Lakh 70 thousand bar members and accordingly the proportionate representation for women should be increased to 35 members- where 20% come from reservation and 10% of those come from co-option for the current elections.

She further suggested that the bench can later on decide whether reservations of the seats have to be proportionate to the members of the bar councils in different states.

The CJI however cautioned that the Court cannot overstep its jurisdiction and venture into policy decisions. While he did agree to have a response from the Union on the issue , he added, " any blanket order in perceived exercise of power of Article 142 will have very very chilling effects."

" As regards to the issue of overall increase in the strength of the members of the state bar councils, certain observations are already made, we request the Ld Attorney General of India to assist us in this regard in the next date of hearing."

Notably, the state bar elections have been divided into 5 phases, as per the recent schedule laid down by the Supreme Court :

Five-Phase Schedule :

a. Phase 1 – Uttar Pradesh, Telangana — to be completed by 31 January 2026

b. Phase 2 – Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Tripura, Puducherry — to be completed by 28 February 2026

c. Phase 3 – Rajasthan, Punjab & Haryana, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Karnataka, Gujarat — to be completed by 15 March 2026

d. Phase 4 – Meghalaya, Maharashtra — to be completed by 31 March 2026

e. Phase 5 – Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam — to be completed by 30 April 2026

Case Details : YOGAMAYA M.G. Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.W.P.(C) No. 581/2024