The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought video recordings of the general body meeting of Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) to see the quality and kind of deliberations held on the issue of women reservation in the bar body.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan said the court would like to see whether the proposal for reserving five posts for women in the 15-member executive body of the DHCBA was rejected after due deliberations.
On September 26, the top court had ordered the DHCBA to consider reserving the post of treasurer for the women beside one other post in the five-member office bearer body of the association. The court ordered that in addition to reserving the post of treasurer for the women members of the bar association, the general body shall also be free to consider the desirability of reserving one more post of office bearer for women members of the bar association.
The court said that the DHCBA must have deliberated upon the constitutional ethos and gender equality while examining the proposal on women reservation, and they would like to examine the same.
The bench said that the DHCBA comprises cream of legal luminaries and reflects the cosmopolitan culture of the bar and it would want to see how they discussed the constitutional ethos and issue of women reservation.
This came after Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora informed the court on orders of the Supreme Court, the general body meeting was held and a proposal was also moved but it was rejected.
"On Monday, we will watch the proceedings of the general body meeting on the big screen here. We want to see the quality and kind of deliberations that had taken place on the issue," the bench said.
The top court was dealing with a plea seeking 33 per cent reservation of seats for women members in the DHCBA. Next hearing will be on November 18.
The Supreme Court on September 26 had directed the General Body of the Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) to hold a meeting within 10 days to reserve posts for women. The apex court proposed that out of 10 Executive Committee members, there shall be at least 3 women members.
The top court directed that the General Body should consider the desirability of reserving the post of Treasurer and any one more post for women members. The court further said that out of 3 women members of the Executive Committee, at least 1 should be a senior advocate.
Earlier in May, the Supreme Court directed for the implementation of minimum 1/3rd women's reservation in the posts of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA). The court said that this should be implemented in the upcoming elections (2024-2025).
The bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan directed that in the upcoming elections for 2024-25, the post of Treasurer of SCBA shall be reserved for a woman. The court further said that one post of the office bearers of SCBA shall be exclusively reserved for women on a rotation basis. However, this reservation does not mean that eligible women candidates cannot contest for other posts.
The bench further ruled that there shall be a minimum of 1/3rd of women's reservation in the junior executive committee as well as in the senior executive committee of the SCBA.