SC refuses to entertain PIL seeking SC, ST quota in state Bar councils

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a PIL seeking reservation for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe lawyers in the State Bar councils.

Observing that the plea had been filed belatedly after the election process had already been set in motion, a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices R Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi said it was too late to seek such representation for the ongoing polls. During the hearing, the counsels for the petitioners relied on the Supreme Court’s earlier order mandating representation for women lawyers in the State Bar councils.

The counsels for the petitioners, including Ram Kumar Gautam, argued that the orders on women lawyers’ representation in the State Bar councils were issued despite the Advocates Act, 1961, being silent on the issue of reservation or representation. “You are everywhere. In the judiciary, among lawyers, in Parliament. The Bar Council has been there since 1961, and you did nothing. Just because the Supreme Court did something for women, you come now! You just want it on a platter,” the CJI said. Clarifying the scope of the earlier directions, the CJI said the bench did not grant “reservation” to women lawyers but only mandated their “representation” to address long-standing under-representation. “We have not provided a reservation for women; it is only representation,” the CJI said.