The Punjab and Haryana High Court sought the Punjab government’s response to a petition seeking 33 percent reservation for women lawyers in the State Advocate General’s office. Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma asked the state government to register its response before January 5, 2024, when the court will hear the matter.
Reports said that the state counsel accepted the notice and sought time to file a reply. The order was passed on a petition lodged by lawyer Sunaina. The lawyer challenged the advertisement issued by the state last month for engagement of 63 lawyers as Assistant Advocate General. The plea also challenged the advertisement to the extent that it does not provide any reservation for women lawyers.
The petitioner noted that the denial of reservation to women was in violation of the provisions of Punjab Civil Services (Reservation of posts for Women) Rules, 2020, which states 33 percent reservation for women to various posts in Punjab. Furthermore, the plea underlined that the State in the same advertisement has reserved certain posts for advocates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) Category and thus is also discriminatory and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.
Reportedly, in the last month, Punjab had issued an advertisement inviting applications for more than 200 posts of law officers of several categories. Notably, while 178 posts are reserved for General Category, 58 are reserved for SC candidates. The lawyer who is the petitioner had submitted her application under the General Category.
The plea read that the inaction on the part of the respondent State of Punjab in not providing reservation for women lawyers for recruitment as law officers of various categories in the office of Advocate General in Punjab is a gross violation of the provision contained in The Punjab Civil Services (Reservation of posts for Women) Rules, 2020.
The petitioner Sunaina was represented by Advocate HC Arora and Additional Advocate General Paramjit Batta represented the State.
The post Punjab and Haryana High Court seeks state’s response on plea seeking 33% quota for women lawyers in Advocate General’s office appeared first on India Legal.