Punjab and Haryana High Court seeks State's response on plea seeking 33% quota for women lawyers in Punjab AG's Office

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on December 20 sought Punjab government’s response on a petition seeking 33 percent reservation for women lawyers in the State Advocate General’s office [Sunaina v. State of Punjab & Others].Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma asked the State to file its response before January 5, 2024, when the Court will hear the matter. The State counsel accepted notice and sought time to file a reply.The order was passed on a petition filed by 26-year-old lawyer, Sunaina, challenging the advertisement issued by the State last month for engagement of 63 lawyers as Assistant Advocate General The plea has challenged the advertisement to the extent it does not provide any reservation for women advocates..The petitioner argued that the denial of reservation to women was in violation of the provisions of Punjab Civil Services (Reservation of posts for Women) Rules, 2020, which provide for 33 percent reservation for women to various posts in Punjab.The plea also said that the State in the same advertisement has reserved certain posts for advocates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) Category and thus is also discriminatory and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution..The State had last month issued an advertisement inviting applications for over 200 posts of law officers of various categories. While 178 posts are reserved for General Category, 58 are reserved for SC candidates. The petitioner had submitted her application under the General Category. “The inaction on the part of the respondent State of Punjab in not providing reservation for Women Advocates, for recruitment as Law Officers of various categories in the office of Advocate General, Punjab, is in gross violation of the provisions contained in … The Punjab Civil Services (Reservation of posts for Women) Rules, 2020,” the plea said. Advocate HC Arora represented the petitioner Sunaina.Additional Advocate General Paramjit Batta represented the State. [Read Order]