The Supreme Court has issued notices to the Bar Council of India (BCI) and all state bar councils over a petition demanding one-third reservation for women in bar council posts, including at least one office-bearer position in every state.
A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi directed the respondents to submit their replies after taking up the plea filed by a woman advocate highlighting the lack of female representation.
According to the petition, women make up only 2.04% of the 441 elected members across state bar councils, with just nine women holding positions. Several state councils — including Gujarat, Delhi, Maharashtra, Goa, Punjab and Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal — reportedly have no women representatives at all.
The petitioner argued that inadequate representation denies women advocates the chance to participate in key decision-making processes within the legal profession.
Citing the Supreme Court’s earlier directive mandating one-third reservation for women, including one office-bearer post, in the Supreme Court Bar Association’s executive committee, the plea urged for a similar rule to be applied to all state bar councils.
The petition also stated that the lack of women’s representation violates Articles 14, 15, 16, and 21 of the Constitution and recalled that women were allowed to practise law in India only after the Legal Practitioners (Women) Act of 1923.