The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Centre, states and union territories on a PIL seeking 30 per cent reservation for women lawyers in government law officer posts and central, state governments, public sector undertakings (PSU) and legal aid lawyers’ panels.A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M Pancholi after senior advocate and Supreme Court Bar Association President Vikas Singh raised the issue on behalf of petitioner Ladli Foundation Trust.The Trust contended that no woman lawyer has ever been appointed as the Attorney General or the Solicitor General and none of the Additional Solicitors General to various high courts was women.The petitioner pointed out that absence of women in legal posts had a direct bearing on their representation on the bench.“These panels frequently operate as feeder pools for judicial elevation and leadership positions within the Bar. Consequently, the systematic exclusion of women from such panels directly affects their professional advancement within the legal system,” it said.Citing India Justice Report 2022, the petitioner said 13 out of 17 large states had less than 30 per cent women panel lawyers, with several states reporting extremely low representation.The trust said despite women joining law schools in record numbers, structural barriers continued to hinder their professional advancement.“Statistical data indicates that out of approximately 1.54 million advocates enrolled across India, only about 284,507 are women, constituting approximately 15.31 per cent of the legal workforce,” it submitted.Referring to an SCBA survey on the difficulties faced by women lawyers, Singh urged the bench to issue directions to ensure better inclusion of women in government law officer posts.Senior counsel Monika Gusain submitted that in Haryana, no woman lawyer has been appointed to the post of Senior Additional Advocate General since the creation of the post.As the CJI said there were several women lawyers appointed at the post of AAG, Gusain responded that though there were women at such posts and they were getting monthly stipends as well, sometimes they were not any cases assigned for an entire month.The CJI narrated how a woman lawyer expressed her gratitude to the Supreme Court for ordering reservation for women in bar bodies.“Yesterday, in Telangana Bar Association, the Secretary was a woman appointed. She was thanking me. I enquired about the total strength of the Bar… it’s 19,000. Around 8,000 come regularly, out of which 2,000 are women. Now, only one woman member has been appointed,” CJI Kant said.The trust said empanelment of woman lawyers to the extent of 30 per cent will help to secure effective enforcement of their fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14 (right to equality), 15(3) (state’s power to make any special provision for women and children), 19(1)(g) (right to practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business) and 21 (right to life and liberty) of the Constitution.Meanwhile, the Bar Council of India – which regulates the legal profession in India — moved the Supreme Court seeking approval for its proposal to fill the next 10 per cent women’s representation in State Bar Councils, beyond the 20 per cent elected women members, through co-option of next highest-polling women candidates.