In a significant move to ensure gender diversity, the Supreme Court of India has ordered the reservation of five key posts exclusively for women lawyers in the upcoming elections of the Nagpur High Court Bar Association (HCBA). The directive comes just days before the association is set to elect its new executive body on December 12.
Court Intervention Overrides Local Bench
The apex court's intervention was necessary after the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court declined to provide interim relief to the petitioners. The bench had cited that the election schedule was already announced and suggested any changes could be considered in hearings scheduled for January 2026. However, a Supreme Court bench comprising CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi overruled this view.
Their ruling ensures what the court termed the "fair and meaningful participation" of women in the imminent electoral process. This proactive step by the top court prevents a long delay in implementing representation norms that have been established through previous landmark judgments.
The Petition and Legal Backing
The petition was filed by Priti Rane, an executive committee member of the HCBA. She argued that women lawyers are entitled to adequate representation based on earlier Supreme Court rulings that mandate one-third reservation for women in bar associations. Her plea garnered substantial support, receiving signatures from more than 150 women lawyers practising at the Nagpur bench.
Rane's legal submission relied on three pivotal judgments: Supreme Court Bar Association vs BD Kaushik, Fauzia Rahman vs Bar Council of Delhi, and Diksha Amrutheish vs State of Karnataka. All these rulings underscore the necessity of at least a 33% representation for women in legal professional bodies. The petition firmly stated that gender diversity cannot be left to convention or goodwill and must be enforced as policy.
Impact on Upcoming Elections
The five posts reserved for women include the positions of vice president, treasurer, and three seats on the executive committee. Bhanudas Kulkarni, the chairperson of the election conducting committee, confirmed that the changes would be incorporated smoothly. "We will mark five posts for women in the election programme," he stated.
He added that the adjustment would not disrupt the original schedule, noting that many women candidates had already applied for various posts. Historically, one of the two vice president posts has often been held by a woman, and three to four women have typically been part of the executive body. The treasurer's post, however, is a single seat, and male candidates who have applied will be asked to withdraw.
This mid-election intervention by the Supreme Court is rare and is aimed at correcting a structural imbalance in professional representation. The decision is expected to influence similar ongoing debates about formal quotas for women in bar associations across Maharashtra and possibly other states, where discretionary inclusion has been the norm.
With polling set for December 12, the HCBA will now reconfigure its ballot to reflect these newly reserved posts, setting a precedent for enforced gender diversity in legal professional forums.
