The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Central government on a petition seeking immediate implementation of provisions of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, commonly known as the Women’s Reservation Bill.
The Bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna passed the orders on two petitions regarding the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Amendment) Bill 2023, which was passed by the Parliament on September 21.
The Apex Court directed the Union government to file its reply within six weeks on the matter and listed the case for further hearing in January.
Appearing for the Central government, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta apprised the court that the petition filed by Advocate Prashant Bhushan had become infructuous because he had requested the Apex Court in the plea to direct the Union government to bring a bill regarding women’s reservation, which has now become a law.
The second petition was filed by Indian National Congress (INC) leader Dr. Jaya Thakur.Dr. Thakur approached the Apex court seeking direction for the execution of the notified Constitutional Amendment Act, which provides for women’s reservation in the legislature.
The plea said the provisions of the Act should be implemented before the Parliamentary elections of 2024 without waiting for the conduct of census or delimitation exercise.
The Bench observed during the hearing that although the courts refrained from giving instructions to the government regarding it’s policies, this was a sensitive matter and hence, the Apex Court would like to know the government’s side also.
The top court of the country said that generally, the process was to start reserving seats where the population was more and then rotate the seats. It was always important to identify which constituencies could be reserved.
However for Women’s Reservation Bill, it needed to be seen how the government would identify and rotate favourable areas, added the Bench.
The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Amendment) Bill 2023, also known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, got the Parliament seal on September 21 after the Rajya Sabha passed it unanimously.
On September 20, the Lok Sabha had passed the Bill. It recieved the President’s nod on September 28, after which The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Amendment) Bill 2023 became a law.
The Act would provide 33 percent reservation for women in the lower house, Legislative Assemblies of States and the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
As per the proposal, the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam will take effect after the delimitation exercise following the first census after the Bill becomes a law. The reservation for women will come to an end after 15 years from the date of its commencement.
The petition filed by Dr. Thaku sought to declare this clog “after the delimitation is undertaken for this purposes after the relevant figures for the first census” as “void-ab initio”.
The petitioner contended that the constitutional amendment must not be withheld for an uncertain period, especially because the bill was passed in a special session specifically called for this purpose and had been unanimously passed by both Houses of the Parliament.