Supreme Court to hear plea on immediate women’s quota implementation

The Supreme Court will hear a plea on April 13 seeking immediate enforcement of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, which mandates one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. The hearing coincides with Parliament’s special session beginning April 16, where the Women’s Reservation (Amendment) Bill is expected to be tabled.

New Delhi: Ahead of the upcoming special session of Parliament, the Supreme Court is slated to hear, on Monday, a plea seeking immediate implementation of 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Legislative Assemblies.

As per the causelist uploaded on the website of the apex court, a bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan is scheduled to hear the petition filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur on April 13.

---

Contending that the benefit of one-third quota for women should not be deferred, the plea has sought immediate enforcement of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, which provides for one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies.

In November 2023, the top court had observed that it would be “very difficult” to strike down the provision in the law which stipulates that the quota for women will come into force only after the completion of the next decennial Census and the subsequent delimitation exercise.

The plea had argued that such preconditions are not necessary as the number of seats is already determined, and that women, who constitute nearly half of the country’s population, remain underrepresented in elected bodies.

The hearing assumes significance as the Parliament is expected to take up the Women’s Reservation (Amendment) Bill during a special session beginning April 16. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has written to floor leaders of all political parties in both Houses of Parliament seeking support for the unanimous passage of the legislation to facilitate the implementation of women’s reservation before the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.

In his letter, the Prime Minister said that greater participation of women in legislative bodies is essential for India’s goal of becoming a developed nation and asserted that the time has come to implement the law “in its true spirit” across the country.

However, the proposed special session has drawn objections from the Congress, which has termed the move a breach of the Model Code of Conduct in view of the ongoing Assembly election campaigns in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Congress has also demanded that an all-party meeting on delimitation be convened before any legislative exercise on the implementation of women’s reservation is undertaken.