PIL in Supreme Court Seeks Judicial Push for Inclusion: Women, Queer & SC/ST Lawyers Missing from Bar Councils

The petitioner, Advocate Yogamaya MG has contended that despite the Advocates Act, 1961 being in force for over six decades, there has been no legislative or policy intervention to address the “gross underrepresentation” of women and other marginalized groups in these statutory bodies.

The plea highlights that out of 441 members across all State Bar Councils, only nine are women, underscoring what the petitioner calls a “deeply entrenched imbalance” in the governance of the legal profession.

It urges the top court to interpret the term “proportional representation” under Section 3(2)(b) of the Advocates Act, 1961 to include gender, social, and disability-based representation.

“The Bar Council plays a pivotal role in regulating the legal profession, yet its composition fails to reflect the diversity of the Bar itself. This is contrary to Articles 14, 15, 16, and 21 of the Constitution,” the petition states, adding that Article 15(3) empowers the State to make special provisions for women and must extend to the legal profession as well.

The petitioner points to landmark judgments such as Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan (1997), NALSA v. Union of India (2014), and Government of A.P. v. P.B. Vijayakumar (1995) to show the judiciary’s proactive role in advancing gender equality and representation of marginalized communities.

The plea also draws attention to the Supreme Court’s own move earlier this year in Supreme Court of India v. B.D. Kaushik, where the Court directed reservation of one-third seats for women in the Executive Committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA).

Further, the petition argues that the existing election process for Bar Councils is “highly politicized and resource-intensive,” discouraging meritorious lawyers, particularly women, from contesting. It seeks regulation of the election process to make it more inclusive and accessible.

The petitioner asserts that better representation within Bar Councils would help address long-standing issues such as the lack of women’s toilets, childcare facilities, and effective redressal mechanisms for sexual harassment in court premises.

The matter is expected to come up for hearing before the Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi soon.

In a related news, the Supreme Court has issued notice on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking reservation for women advocates in State Bar Councils across India, citing their gross under-representation in bar leadership despite rising participation in the legal profession. The petition, filed by Advocate Shehla Chaudhary, was drawn by Advocates Md. Anas Chaudhary and Alia Zaid, and filed through Advocate-on-Record Ansar Ahmad Chaudhary.