Arham Jain
On March 24, 2025, the Supreme Court of India issued a directive directing that thirty percent of the seats in the governing councils of all Karnataka district bar organizations be set aside for female attorneys. This judgment is in accordance with a similar guideline that was previously issued concerning the Advocates Association Bengaluru (AAB) elections.
A Division- Bench comprising of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh, noted that the AAB elections were held in accordance with these instructions. The Court was notified on January 28 that the 30% reservation for female attorneys in the AAB’s governing council had been effectively implemented.
The Supreme Court issued an injunction on January 24 requiring the AAB to only consider female candidates for the position of Treasurer. Furthermore, the Court had requested that the chief returning officer and the powerful committee in charge of the AAB elections take into account allocating 30% of the seats on the governing council to female attorneys.
The Supreme Court made the decision to apply its decision throughout Karnataka since elections in other district bar organizations were still pending.
The Karnataka High Court also issued a ruling the same day endorsing comparable reservations for women in all of the state’s bar organizations. In response to a petition asking for a 33% reservation for women in the Tumakuru District Bar Association (TBA), Justice M. Nagaprasanna heard the matter.
The TBA’s attorney promised the court during the hearing that the organization will set aside two executive council seats and a joint secretary position for women in the April 5 elections. In order to guarantee that these modifications were long-lasting, the association’s bylaws would also be changed following the elections.
While applauding the assurance, Justice Nagaprasanna stressed that the reservation should not be viewed as a band-aid solution.
He went on to say that the petitioners were represented before the Karnataka High Court by Senior Advocate Lakshmi Iyengar and Advocate Vidyashree KS. The respondents were represented by Senior Advocates Vivek Subba Reddy and RS Ravi.
Case Name- Deeksha M Amruthesh v. State of Karnataka and ors
Case Number- Special Leave to Appeal (C) No(s). 1404/2025
Bench- Justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan
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