No more a men's club: Supreme Court directs 30% reservation for women in State Bar Councils

The Supreme Court on Thursday said that women must occupy at least 30 percent of the seats in every State Bar Council across the country and directed the Bar Council of India (BCI) to construe its existing rules in that spirit and treat them as amended to provide for such reservation [Yogamaya MG vs. Union of India & Ors.]. .A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said the move was in keeping with the constitutional ethos and the country’s recent legislative push towards gender equality.It said that the BCI must not only reserve 30 percent of the seats for women but also ensure that the same applies to the posts of office bearers in each State Bar Council.“Keeping in view the constitutional ethos, the recent legislative initiatives and the orders passed by this Court from time to time, we expect that the Bar Council of India will construe the existing Rules/framework in such a manner as to ensure that 30% seats in each State Bar Council are occupied by women members. It goes without saying that such an initiative shall also include some of the posts of the office bearers,” the Bench noted. The Court clarified that the relevant rules would be deemed to have been amended to incorporate such reservation and directed the BCI to furnish complete details on compliance by December 8. .The order came during the hearing of two public interest petitions filed by Supreme Court lawyers Yogamaya MG and Shehla Chaudhary highlighting the gross underrepresentation of women and other marginalised groups in the country’s Bar Councils.Yogamaya’s petition pointed out that despite women constituting a growing proportion of the legal profession, they remain almost invisible in Bar Council governance. The plea cited data published by Bar & Bench showing that out of 441 elected representatives across 18 State Bar Councils, only nine are women - just 2.04%..The petition also drew the Court’s attention to the fact that since its inception in 1961, the Bar Council of India has not had a single woman member. It argued that this complete exclusion violates Articles 14, 15, and 16 of the Constitution, which mandate equality and non-discrimination, and sought a direction to introduce structural reforms and reservations for women in upcoming Bar Council elections.Senior Advocate Shobha Gupta, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that the present electoral structure under the Advocates Act, 1961, perpetuates systemic exclusion, and that the phrase “proportional representation” in Section 3(2)(b) must be interpreted to include gender representation.The plea further highlighted that the five-phase Bar Council elections scheduled between January and April 2026, beginning with Uttar Pradesh and Telangana, were being conducted without any provision for women’s representation, which would exclude women for another five-year term unless the Court intervened.In its earlier order dated November 7, the Supreme Court had already issued notice on a similar plea filed by Chaudhary seeking one-third reservation for women in all State Bar Councils and at least one woman office-bearer in each on a rotational basis..According to the data annexed to the petition, 11 out of 18 State Bar Councils have zero women members, and none of the 20 members of the Bar Council of India are women. The petitioner argued that a 98 percent gender gap in representation cannot be dismissed as coincidence and that only mandatory reservation can correct this imbalance..The Supreme Court will next take up the matter on December 8 when the BCI is expected to submit details of steps taken to implement the Court’s direction..Besides Gupta, advocates Sriram Parakkat and Deepak Prakash also appeared for petitioner Yogamaya. .[Read Order].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.