BCI moves SC to finalise 10% co-option formula for women in State bar councils

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has moved the Supreme Court seeking approval for a merit-based “co-option” mechanism to ensure 30 per cent women’s representation in state bar councils.

The BCI, the apex bar body, has proposed to fill a 10-per cent co-option quota by selecting women candidates who have secured the highest number of votes among those not elected, rather than through subjective appointments.

The proposal aims to complement the 20 per cent seats reserved for women through direct election, bringing the total representation to the 30-per cent mandate previously set by the apex court.

BCI chairperson and senior advocate Manan Kumar Mishra, in a statement, said the bar body has considered the submissions made by stakeholders before the apex court-appointed High Powered Election Supervisory Committee on the co-option of women members in state bar councils.

“This issue concerns not merely filling seats, but the larger institutional objective, which is ensuring that women advocates, who constitute an indispensable and distinguished part of the legal fraternity, are given their rightful place in the representative structure of the Bar. The Bar Council of India approached this matter with sincerity, fairness, transparency and a deep sense of responsibility toward the legal profession as a whole,” the BCI has said.

It has added that “co-option is to be made from among the contesting women candidates who secured the highest number of votes but could not be declared elected within the contemplated 20 per cent representation for women”.

In its application, the BCI has said that co-opting “runners-up”, women who narrowly missed election, is the most democratic way to fulfil the quota.

The council has said this method respects the electorate’s mandate, while removing the risks of favouritism.

“It would be fair, objective, transparent, and least susceptible to arbitrariness,” the BCI has stated, adding that linking co-option to actual votes polled ensures that the process remains “connected to the democratic choice expressed by advocates”.

The move follows a landmark directive from the apex court in December 2023, mandating 30 per cent reservation for women in state bar councils.

On April 13, the court requested the High-Powered Election Supervisory Committee, headed by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, to determine the exact manner in which the 10 per cent co-option should be executed.