Petition Filed For 33% Reservation For Women In Delhi Bar Councils

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court to secure a 33% reservation for women in the Bar Associations of District Courts and the Bar Council of Delhi, by Adv Sanskriti Gupta.

Advocate Sanskriti also spoke on the demands of the petition and what it really means, stating, “What we are seeking is 33% reservation in the Bar associations of District Courts as well as the Bar Council of Delhi. The very basic purpose behind this is women empowerment, but the larger and deeper purpose it seeks to address includes issues inherent to women, such as sanitation, toilets, breaks during lactation periods, and menstruation problems. These issues, among others, cannot be effectively handled by men alone in the council; we require a seat for women at the table,” highlighting the historical absence of female representation in the bar—none have ever served as president.

She also spoke about the expectations from this petition and demand, saying, “What we want is to reserve 33% of seats in the Bar Council for women. So you have 15 members in one council, and we are saying that you at least give 4-5 seats in the council exclusively for women because there are issues that need to be addressed by women, for women, to women.”

Advocate Sanskriti highlighted the relevance of Gandhian and Ambedkarite ideologies advocating for equal representation and said, “Like you have Gandhian and Ambedkarite ideology of equal representation, you have Article 14 that says that sometimes to give equal representation means you need to have reservations for women.”