A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking the immediate implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill. The bill was unanimously passed by both houses of Parliament in September 2023 and was signed into law by the President of India last month. In the Lok Sabha, the upper chambers of the state legislatures, and the Delhi legislative assembly, one-third of the seats would be reserved for women under the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023. The act also establishes a horizontal reservation within the women’s quota for women from scheduled castes (SC) and scheduled tribes (ST). However, in accordance with the Act, the women’s reserve won’t go into effect until a delimitation exercise is carried out after the subsequent census and will last for fifteen years.
The petition filed by Congress leader Dr. Jaya Thakur seeks to declare the “after the delimitation is undertaken for these purposes after the relevant figures for the first census” clause as “void-ab initio” and seeks immediate implementation of the Bill. According to the argument, the constitutional amendment cannot be delayed for an undetermined amount of time, especially since the measure was approved by both houses of parliament in Dr. Jaya Thakur v. Union of India at a special session that was called just for this purpose.
The plea further explains that adequate representation of women in the parliament and state legislature is necessary in the democratic process. However, for the last 75 years, there has been no such representation. The long-pending demand for 33% reservation for women has finally been met through this constitutional amendment, but with the caveat that it will be implemented only after the delimitation exercise is conducted following the next census. The plea seeks to remove this clause and implement the 33% reservation immediately.
Written by N.Yogendra Mani of KL University Vijayawada Andhra Pradesh ( 5th semester) an intern under Legal Vidhiya
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