Supreme Court: In a writ petition instituted under Article 32 of the Constitution of India raising issues concerning the functioning of the Bar Councils, transparency in electoral processes, and representation of women advocates in elected bodies, a Division Bench of Surya Kant, CJ., and Joymalya Bagchi, J., issued directed regarding implementation of the Court’s order in Meena A Jagtap v. Bar Council of India, 2025 SCC OnLine SC 2749, dated 08-12-2025.
The instant matter concerned with implementation of the directions issued by the Supreme Court in Meena A Jagtap (Supra), particularly relating to 30% reservation for women members and reforms in Bar Council elections. Several interlocutory applications were filed seeking clarification, modification, implementation of directions and intervention by various stakeholders, including State Bar Councils and the Bar Council of India.
By an earlier order in Meena A Jagtap (Supra), this Court had issued directions, inter alia, regarding reservation for women members in Bar Council elections and made observations concerning the composition and strength of State Bar Councils.
The Court noted that the election process of the Bar Council of Punjab & Haryana had not yet commenced and only the voter list had been finalised and the Bar Council of India had forwarded a proposal to the Ministry of Law and Justice for increasing the strength of State Bar Councils.
The court issued following directions —
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The High Powered Election Supervisory Committee, headed by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, would oversee the process after considering the views of all stakeholders. The Committee shall take into account the viewpoints of the Bar Council of India and the State Bar Councils before issuing appropriate directions
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Ordered that the words “Punjab and Haryana” appearing in paragraph 4 of Meena A Jagtap (Supra) to be deleted.
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30% reservation for women members, as contemplated in paragraph 6 of Meena A Jagtap (Supra), shall apply to the ensuing elections of the Bar Council of Punjab & Haryana.
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Requested the Attorney General for India to intervene and assist the Court on the issue of enhancement of the strength of State Bar Councils.
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Directed the Bar Council of India to supply a soft copy of the complete paper book and all previous orders to the offices of the Attorney General for India and the Additional Solicitor General.
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Directed to list the main writ petition along with pending interlocutory applications for further hearing on 06-02-2026.
[Yogamaya M.G. v. Union of India, Writ Petition (Civil) No. 581 of 2024, Decided on 16-01-2026]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
Ms. Shobha Gupta, Sr. Adv., with Ms. Yogamaya M.G., Mr. Deepak Prakash, AOR Ms. Komal, Ms. Jyoti P. Deborah, Mr. Shivam Yadav, Ms. Tarjana Rai and Ms. Ritu Bharadwaj, Counsel for the Petitioner
Ms. Shobha Gupta, Sr. Adv., with Mr. Vikas Verma, AOR, Ms. Sapna Verma, Mr. Shafik Ahmed, Ms. Kavita Verma, Ms. Priya Verma, Ms. Aakriti Yunas, Mr. Naman Dwivedi, Mr. Varun Sharma, Ms. Anita Tripathi, Mr. Naveen Sharma, Mr. Ashish Vashistha and Mr. Satendra Singh Baghel, Counsel for the Appellant
Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Sr. Adv. Dr. Arvind S. Avhad, AOR Mr. Rajat Kapoor, Adv. Mr. Uday Warunjikar, Adv. Ms. Anindita Pujari, Sr. Adv. Mr. Pravartak Suhas Pathak, AOR Mr. Ritu Raj, Adv. Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, ASG Ms. Sonali Jain, Adv. Ms. Gargie Boss, Adv. Mr. Anuj Udupa, Adv. Ms. Aastha Singh, Adv. Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv. Mr. P.V. Yogeswaran, Adv. Mr. Aman Mehta, Adv. Dr. N. Visakamurthy, AOR Mr. Manan Kumar Mishra, Sr.Adv. Mr. Guru Krishna Kumar, Sr.Adv. Mr. Apurba Sharma, Sr.Adv. Ms. Radhika Gautam, AOR Mr. Anjul Dwivedi, Adv. Mr. Vishsh Goel, Adv. Mr. Kunal Thakur, Adv., Ms. Tatini Basu, AOR Mr. Byrapaneni Suyodhan, Adv. Ms. Obulapuram Keerthi, Adv. Mr. D Bharat Kumar, Adv. Mr. Aman Shukla, Adv. Ms. Yatika Gupta, Adv. Mr. M Chandrakanth Reddy, Adv. Mr. Siddhartha Sinha, AOR Mr. Aljo K. Joseph, AOR Mr. Udit Saxena, Adv. Mr. Rajesh Kumar, Adv. Mr. N Leela Vara Prasad, Adv. Mr. Virendra Mohan, Adv. Mr. Lalit Belwal, Adv. Mr. Santhosh Kumar Kolkundra, Adv. Mrs. Sumita Ray, AOR Ms. Disha Ray, Adv. Mr. Anurag Kumar, Adv. Mr. Kunal Narwal, Adv. Ms. Vanshika Singh, Adv. Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR, Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv. Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv. Mr. Vikas Upadhyay, AOR Mr. Jasbir Singh Malik, Adv. Ms. Prachi Sohi, Adv. Mr. Anshuman Singh, Adv. Ms. Niharika Singh, Adv. Mr. Varun Punia, AOR Mr. Vivek Narayan Sharma, AOR Mr. Akash Singh, Adv. Mrs. Mahima Bhardwaj Kalucha, Adv. Mr. Rajeev Kumar Jha, Adv. Mr. Dinesh Sharma, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Vikas, AOR Ms. Filza Moonis, AOR Mr. Suresh Chandra Tripathy, AOR Ms. Rajshri Ashutosh Dubey, AOR Mr. Durgesh Ramchandra Gupta, AOR Ms. Gayatri Virmani, Adv. Ms. Abiha Zaidi, AOR Ms. Suriti Chowdhary, Adv. Mr. Pritam Raman Giriya, Adv. Ms. Arushi, Adv. Ms. Tanya Sharma, Adv. Mr. Sriram P., AOR Ms. Sona K. Kareem, Adv. Mr. Anandhu S. Nair, Adv. Ms. Maneesha Sunilkumar, Adv., Counsel for the Respondents