Ramesh Chandra Singh v. Bar Council Of Delhi And ANR

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

+ RAMESH CHANDRA SINGH .....Petitioner Through:

Petitioner in person.

versus BAR COUNCIL OF DELHI AND ANR.

.....Respondents Through:

Mr.

T.

Singhdev, Mr.

Tanishq Srivastava, Ms. Yamini Singh, Mr.

Abhijit Chakravarty, Mr.

Bhanu Gulati, Mr.

Saurabh Kumar, Mr.

Vedant Sood and Ms. Ramanpreet Kaur, Advocates for R-1/BCD.

Mr. Preet Pal Singh, Ms. Simran Kumari, Ms. Medha Sharma, Mr.

Gaurav and Ms. Pooja, Advocates for BCI.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AMIT BANSAL

O R D E R

% 19.03.2026 1.

The present writ petition has been filed seeking a direction to respondent no. 1/Bar Council of Delhi ('BCD'), to clarify that 6 seats in the BCD be categorically reserved for Advocates with less than 10 years of practice.

2.

The petitioner, who appears in-person, is a practising Advocate enrolled with Bar Council of Delhi with less than 10 years of standing at the Bar, and is a contestant in the BCD elections held in February, 2026. 3.

As per the notification dated 24th December, 2025 issued by the Bar Council of Delhi ('Impugned Notification') for election of 23 members, 12 seats have been reserved for Advocates with at least 10 years of practice as The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.

on 30th November, 2025, and 5 seats have been reserved for women candidates. It is the contention of the petitioner that the remaining 6 seats should be reserved for Advocates with less than 10 years of practice. He submits that non-reservation of seats for Advocates with less than 10 years of practice is a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. 4.

Mr. T. Singhdev, counsel appearing on behalf of respondent no.1/ BCD submits that the present petition suffers from delay and laches as the elections to BCD have already been held and the counting process has begun. He further submits that the Impugned Notification was issued on 24th December, 2015 and the petitioner is challenging the same at this belated stage.

5.

I have heard submissions on behalf of the parties. 6.

It is an undisputed position that the petitioner was a contestant in the BCD elections that were held in February, 2026. Despite being aware of the Impugned Notification dated 24th December, 2025, in terms of which reservations have been made only for Advocates with more than 10 years of practice and women Advocates, he chose to contest the aforesaid elections without protesting in any manner.

7.

Now, the elections have already been conducted and the counting process has begun. At this stage, the petitioner cannot be permitted to challenge the Impugned Notification in terms of which the aforesaid elections were held and in which the petitioner was a candidate. 8.

The petitioner relies upon Section 3(2)(b) of the Advocates Act, 1961 in support of his contention that there should be proportional representation for all categories of Advocates. For ease of reference, Section 3(2)(b) of the Advocates Act, 1961, is set out below:

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.

9.

The aforesaid proviso to Section 3(2)(b) clearly states that nearly half of the elected members have to be Advocates with more than 10 years of practice. Insofar as reservation has been made for women Advocates, the same has been done pursuant to the order passed by the Supreme Court on 8th December, 2025 in W.P.(C) 581/2024 titled Yogamaya M.G. v. Union of India & Ors.

10.

In the aforesaid circumstances, merely because reservation has been made for Advocates with more than 10 years' experience and women Advocates, would not create any vested right in favour of the Advocates with less than 10 years' experience, including the petitioner, to seek reservation.

11.

Accordingly, I do not find any merit in the present writ petition and the same is dismissed as not maintainable.

AMIT BANSAL, J MARCH 19, 2026/Rzu The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.