The Supreme Court has directed that at least 30% of seats be reserved for women advocates in the upcoming Punjab and Haryana Bar Council elections.
The Supreme Court has made a decision on Friday to ensure that women advocates will get 30 percent representation in the forthcoming elections of Bar Council, Punjab, and Haryana. The bench included Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi who also requested the collaboration of Attorney General R Venkataramani.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati in resolving the issue of a request urging the enhancement of state bar councils’ elected members in light of the increased total number of lawyers.
The bench while hearing an application in a pending petition suggested measures for adequate representation of female lawyers in state bar councils throughout the country and passed directions in this respect. The bench clarified that all state bar councils where the elections are due to be notified must ensure a minimum of 30 percent of their seats are held by women advocates.
For instance, the bench stated that the case of Punjab and Haryana was different because the election process had not been formally started yet and the only publication was the final voter list, which makes it applicable to implement the reservation requirement.
“It is our firm belief that our directive in paragraph 4 of the order dated December 8, 2025, which includes the words ‘Punjab & Haryana’, can definitely be deleted since the election process has not yet started and only the voter list has been finalized,” it was stated.
The bench also directed that the 30 percent women member representation, as provided in paragraph 6 of the previous order, would apply “mutatis mutandis” to the forthcoming elections of the Bar Council of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The order which was issued by the Supreme Court on December 8, 2025, states that the elections of four state bar councils have already been announced and that it would not be reasonable to reserve seats for women in such a late phase.
The bench had in particular left out Andhra Pradesh and Punjab & Haryana from the usual quota of seats reserved for women due to the reason that the process for elections had already been initiated.
Nonetheless, the bench after re-examination concluded that Punjab and Haryana were in a separate position since the elections were still to take place.
