The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has stepped in to settle a long-running tussle over women's representation in the Oudh Bar Association, one of the largest lawyers' bodies attached to the High Court.
A division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Manjive Shukla ruled that 30% of all posts in the Association's Governing and Executive Council must go to women advocates, and it didn't stop at just saying so - the court worked out exactly which post goes to a woman candidate, and in which year.
Background of the Case
Two public interest litigations landed before the court, both pushing for the same cause but from slightly different directions. Advocate Divya Tripathi, also known as Divya Mishra, filed PIL No. 506 of 2026 asking the court to make the Bar Association follow the Supreme Court's repeated orders in the Deeksha N. Amruthesh versus State of Karnataka case, which had already set the 30% benchmark for women in bar bodies nationwide. Advocate Mithlesh Srivastava's PIL No. 177 of 2026 sought something more specific - reserving the Treasurer's post exclusively for women and rotating the top posts of President, General Secretary and Senior Vice President among lady lawyers.
The Oudh Bar Association told the court it wasn't opposed to the idea in principle. Its outgoing office bearers said the matter had been placed before the Annual General Meeting held on July 29, 2026, which passed a resolution reserving the Treasurer's post along with three out of six Junior Executive seats and three out of six Senior Executive seats.
Court's Observations
The bench wasn't convinced this went far enough. It held that the resolution passed at the AGM fell short of what the Supreme Court had actually directed, and did not reflect the real intent behind the apex court's orders on women's representation in bar bodies across the country.
Some senior members of the Bar, including Anil Tewari and Dr. L.P. Misra, urged the court to spare the top posts of President and General Secretary from reservation for this year, offering to consider them from 2027 onward. The court weighed this but noted that the outgoing office bearers could not give any real reason why women should be kept out of the higher posts this year.
The bench observed that out of 22 total office-bearer positions in the Association, at least 7 need to be reserved for women to meet the 30% mark, and that posts with fewer than three seats would have to follow a rotation system to ensure fairness over time.
The Decision
The court passed a detailed, year-wise reservation schedule covering every post - from Junior and Senior Executive members to Joint Secretary, Treasurer, Vice Presidents, Senior Vice President, General Secretary and President - spreading the reservation across elections from 2026 through 2034 on a rotational basis.
Where no woman candidate is available for a reserved post, it will be filled by nomination through the Senior Judge of the Lucknow Bench. The court also directed that these directions be read into the Association's existing bye-laws, and that candidates must disclose any FIR or criminal case pending against them in their nomination forms.
Both petitions were disposed of accordingly.
