The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday passed an interim order restraining the District Bar Association Rewa from conducting its scheduled elections until further orders, citing non-compliance with the Supreme Court’s binding directions mandating 30% reservation for women as office bearers and executive members in bar associations. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf issued the order in a petition filed by a woman advocate challenging the election notification dated 7 March 2026 issued by the District Advocates’ Association, Rewa. The polling for the elections was scheduled for 25 March 2026.
The bench, after examining the records in the morning session, found that the election process provided only 10% reservation for women candidates, which was significantly inadequate and contrary to the Supreme Court’s directions in Deeksha N Amrutesh v. State of Karnataka. The Court reiterated that the Supreme Court had mandated at least 30% representation for women lawyers in the governing or election bodies of all District, Taluka, or other bar associations across the country. Where the number of enrolled women lawyers falls short of 30%, those available must be given representation, and District Judges have been authorised to nominate women members to the executive committee if sufficient women candidates are not contesting the elections.
The Supreme Court had earlier taken serious note of several bar associations conducting elections after 24 March 2025 without providing adequate representation to women and had directed the Registrar General of every High Court to collect compliance reports from all bar associations within their territorial jurisdiction. In March 2026, the Supreme Court further clarified that where women members exist but are unable to contest, District Judges may nominate them to ensure the 30% quota is met. The High Court observed that despite these clear and binding directions, no provision for 30% women’s reservation was made in the election process of the Rewa District Bar Association, rendering the notification and the scheduled polls non-compliant.
The High Court accordingly restrained the Bar Association from proceeding with the elections scheduled for 25 March 2026 and posted the matter for further hearing on 8 April 2026.
Cause Title: Jatinder Kaur v. Bar Council of MP [WP – 10351/2026 (O)]
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