NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Delhi High Court bar body to come up with some “pragmatic” and “salutary” solutions on women reservation in its election for office bearers. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan said the Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) should act as a role model for other smaller bar bodies in the national capital on the issue of women reservation.
It said if some pragmatic and salutary solution comes from the bar then it will help in resolving this issue otherwise there will be an order from the court.
“Mr Mohit Mathur please get it resolved amicably and immediately. We are taking this matter next week. We have said that we are not staying the bar association election,” the bench said as it posted the matter in the coming week.
The court recorded that senior advocate Mohit Mathur, who is also president of DHCBA, would keep various options for amicable solution before its senior members by December 17 and the options along with any suggestions would be considered by the bench on December 19.
Senior advocate Sanjay Jain, said the high court ordered that DHCBA elections, subordinate courts and tribunals in Delhi were to be held on the same day and now all of it was in limbo.
Senior advocate Vijay Hansaria said no one was opposed to reserving seats for women members in the DHCBA but the decision should not be a ruse to delay the elections to 13 other bar bodies.
The top court was hearing a batch of pleas seeking 33 per cent reservation of seats for women lawyers in the DHCBA.
It had seen the video clips submitted by senior advocate and DHCBA president Mathur on deliberations over the issue of 33 per cent reservation in the bar body that took place at the general body meeting.
On November 13, the top court said it would like to watch the video of the general body meeting of DHCBA to see the “quality and kind” of deliberations held on the issue of women reservation in the bar body.
The top court was informed in the general body meeting, the proposal for reserving the seats for women was not passed.
It had 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 moved in pursuance of its September 26 order was rejected after due deliberations and thorough reasoning.
On September 26, the top court directed the DHCBA to have the post of treasurer reserved for the women beside one other post in the five-member office-bearer body of the association.
“The general body of the bar association shall consider to reserve the post of the treasurer exclusively for the women members of the bar association,” the bench had directed.
In addition to reserving the post of treasurer for women members, the general body should also be free to consider the desirability of reserving one more post of the office-bearer for women members of the bar association, it said.
“Similarly, out of 10 executive members, there shall be at least three women members. The general body may also resolve that out of three women members of the executive committee, one at least will be a senior designated advocate,” it directed previously.
Mathur was asked to even urge the bar bodies of the district courts to have similar arrangements in place.
The executive committee of the high court bar association comprises 15 members, including five office-bearers.
On May 2, in an order aimed at increasing the representation of women at the bar, the top court directed that 33 per cent posts in the executive committee of the SCBA be reserved for women members.
