The Madhya Pradesh High Court stayed the Rewa District Bar Association elections after finding no 30% reservation for women as mandated by the Supreme Court. The Court held that Supreme Court directions are binding and elections without women’s reservation cannot be allowed.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has stopped the upcoming elections of the District Bar Association, Rewa, after finding that the election process did not follow the Supreme Court’s directions regarding reservation for women lawyers. The Court said that bar association elections must provide proper representation to women as per the Supreme Court’s mandatory orders.
The case was filed by a woman advocate, Jatindar Kaur, who challenged a notification dated March 7, 2026, issued by the District Advocates Association, Rewa. She argued that the election process did not provide 30 percent reservation for women candidates, which is a direct violation of the Supreme Court’s binding directions given in SLP(C) No. 1404/2025 in the case of Deeksha N. Amruthesh v. State of Karnataka. The petition stated that without reservation, women lawyers continue to be underrepresented in leadership positions in bar associations.
Advocate Ashish Singh Baghel, appearing for the petitioner, argued that not providing reservation for women goes against the spirit and purpose of the Supreme Court’s directions and continues the systemic exclusion of women from important decision-making roles in bar bodies. He told the Court that the election notification and the accepted nominations clearly showed that women were not given fair representation.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf examined the matter and referred to several Supreme Court orders which clearly state that at least 30 percent of the posts of office bearers and executive members in all bar associations must be reserved for women.
The High Court specifically referred to Supreme Court orders dated March 24, 2025, January 16, 2026, and March 13, 2026, where the Supreme Court had repeatedly stressed that this reservation must be properly implemented in all states and union territories.
During the hearing, Surya Nath Pandey, the Chief Election Officer of the District Bar Association, Rewa, admitted before the Court that no reservation for women had been included in the elections scheduled for March 25, 2026.
The Court was also shown the list of candidates whose nominations were accepted, and it was found that women candidates were less than 10 percent of the total candidates, which is far below the required 30 percent reservation.
Taking the matter seriously, the High Court observed that the Supreme Court’s directions are not advisory in nature but are binding and must be followed by all bar associations. The Court made it clear that if these directions are not followed, the election process cannot continue legally.
The Court passed a clear order and stated,
“In view of the mandatory directions issued by the Supreme Court to ensure that there is 30% reservation of women in the Executive Committee as office bearers/executive members… we restrain the Bar Association from holding the election… till the next date of hearing.”
The High Court also issued notice to the Bar Council of Madhya Pradesh and the District Judge, Rewa, and asked them to respond on this issue. The Court further directed the Chief Election Officer to postpone the polling which was scheduled for the next day until further orders. Because of this order, the District Bar Association, Rewa elections have been put on hold for now.
The matter will be heard next on April 8, 2026. The case is titled Jatindar Kaur v. Bar Council of MP Jabalpur and Others, and the order was passed on March 24, 2026, by Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf. This case is important because it reinforces the Supreme Court’s directions on women’s reservation in bar associations and sends a strong message that such directions must be strictly followed across the country.
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