The Supreme Court on Thursday said that women must occupy at least 30 percent of the seats in every State Bar Council across the country and directed the Bar Council of India (BCI) to construe its existing rules in that spirit and treat them as amended to provide for such reservation.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said the move was in keeping with the constitutional ethos and the country’s recent legislative push towards gender equality.

It said that the BCI must not only reserve 30 percent of the seats for women but also ensure that the same applies to the posts of office bearers in each State Bar Council.

“Keeping in view the constitutional ethos, the recent legislative initiatives and the orders passed by this Court from time to time, we expect that the Bar Council of India will construe the existing Rules/framework in such a manner as to ensure that 30% seats in each State Bar Council are occupied by women members. It goes without saying that such an initiative shall also include some of the posts of the office bearers,” the Bench noted.

The Court clarified that the relevant rules would be deemed to have been amended to incorporate such reservation and directed the BCI to furnish complete details on compliance by December 8.

The order came during the hearing of two public interest petitions filed by Supreme Court lawyers Yogamaya MG and Shehla Chaudhary highlighting the gross underrepresentation of women and other marginalised groups in the country’s Bar Councils.

Yogamaya’s petition pointed out that despite women constituting a growing proportion of the legal profession, they remain almost invisible in Bar Council governance.

The plea cited data showing that out of 441 elected representatives across 18 State Bar Councils, only nine are women - just 2.04%.

The petition also drew the Court’s attention to the fact that since its inception in 1961, the Bar Council of India has not had a single woman member. It argued that this complete exclusion violates Articles 14, 15, and 16 of the Constitution, which mandate equality and non-discrimination, and sought a direction to introduce structural reforms and reservations for women in upcoming Bar Council elections.

Senior Advocate Shobha Gupta, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that the present electoral structure under the Advocates Act, 1961, perpetuates systemic exclusion, and that the phrase “proportional representation” in Section 3(2)(b) must be interpreted to include gender representation.

The plea further highlighted that the five-phase Bar Council elections scheduled between January and April 2026, beginning with Uttar Pradesh and Telangana, were being conducted without any provision for women’s representation, which would exclude women for another five-year term unless the Court intervened.

In its earlier order dated November 7, the Supreme Court had already issued notice on a similar plea filed by Chaudhary seeking one-third reservation for women in all State Bar Councils and at least one woman office-bearer in each on a rotational basis.