No woman AG or SG till now: Plea in Supreme Court seeks 30% quota for women lawyers in law officer posts

A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking 30 percent reservation for women lawyers in government law officer positions and Central and lawyer panels of State governments and Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) [Ladli Foundation Trust vs. Union of India].

As per the plea, no woman lawyer has ever been appointed as the Attorney General of India or the Solicitor General of India, and none of the Additional Solicitors General currently assigned to various High Courts are women.

The absence of women in legal posts also has a direct bearing on their representation on the bench, the petition pointed out.

The matter was briefly heard today by a Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi.

During the hearing, CJI Kant recounted how a woman lawyer recently expressed her gratitude to the Supreme Court for directing the reservation of Bar body seats for women lawyers.

"Yesterday, in the Telangana Bar Association, the Secretary was a woman appointed. She was thanking me. I enquired about the total strength of the Bar .. it is 19,000. Around 8,000 come regularly, out of which 2,000 are women. Now only one woman member appointed," he observed.

Senior Advocate and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President, Vikas Singh referred to a recent SCBA survey on the difficulties faced by women lawyers. He urged the Court for directions to ensure the better inclusion of women in government law officer posts.

"This is pursuant to the SCBA survey on women in the legal profession. They need to be included in government panels," he said.

"You know there is dedicated stipends also for women members, but at times, not a single case is marked for the whole month," replied CJI Kant.

"There are so many other difficulties being faced by lady advocates," added Senior Advocate Dr. Monika Gusain, who is also a Senior Executive Member of the SCBA.

The matter will be heard further next week.

The petition before the Court was filed by the Ladli Foundation Trust, a charitable trust that works to promote gender equality.

It highlighted that women are severely underrepresented in government panels and institutional legal positions.

As per the petitioner, despite Constitutional guarantees of gender equality, the legal profession in India continues to reflect a deep gender imbalance within its institutional hierarchy.

"While women increasingly enter law schools and the legal profession in significant numbers, their representation declines sharply in positions of professional authority. Statistical data indicates that out of approximately 1.54 million advocates enrolled across India, only about 284,507 are women, constituting approximately 15.31% of the legal workforce," it was submitted.

According to the plea, this gender imbalance is also reflected in the higher judiciary.

Even though a substantial number of women enter the legal profession, they gradually disappear from higher institutional positions because of structural barriers, it was submitted.

As per the petition,

"In the 35 years since Justice M Fathima Beevi became the first woman judge of the Supreme Court in 1989, only 11 women have ever been elevated to the Supreme Court of India. Presently, women constitute approximately 5.88% of judges in the Supreme Court and about 13.76% of judges in the High Courts, despite forming a much larger proportion of entry-level legal professionals."

One factor contributing to women losing out on judicial elevation opportunities is their underrepresentation in government law officer posts, the petitioner further said.

"These panels frequently operate as feeder pools for judicial elevation and leadership positions within the Bar. Consequently, the systemic exclusion of women from such panels directly affects their professional advancement within the legal system... According to the India Justice Report 2022, 13 out of 17 large states have less than 30% women panel lawyers, with several states reporting extremely low representation," it was pointed out.

The petition was filed through advocate Mudit Gupta.