The Supreme Court will hear a petition on Tuesday seeking immediate and full implementation of the 33 percent Women Reservation Bill before the Parliamentary General Election in 2024.
Earlier the said it would be “very difficult” for it to strike down a portion of the women’s reservation law stipulating its activation following the Census.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and S V N Bhatti had refused to issue a notice on a plea filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur, which seeks the immediate implementation of the 128th Constitution (Amendment) Bill, also known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.
The petitioner has sought direction to declare the clause “after the delimitation is undertaken for this purpose after the relevant figures for the first census” in “The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eight Amendment) Bill 2023 (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam),” as “void-ab-initio.” This declaration is sought to enable the immediate and complete implementation of the 33 percent Women Reservation before the 2024 Parliamentary General Election.
The petitioner argued that a democratic process requires representation from all segments of society. However, for the past 75 years, there has been inadequate representation of women in both the parliament and State Legislature. It highlighted that this demand has remained pending for decades, and the parliament rightfully passed the aforementioned act to provide a 33 percent reservation. However, the provision stipulating that the act would be implemented “after the delimitation is undertaken for this purpose ‘after the relevant figures for the first census’” should be declared “void-ab-initio” to expedite the 33 percent women’s reservation.
The petitioner further emphasized that a constitutional amendment should not be held in abeyance for an uncertain duration. It cited a legal precedent, “Bhavesh D. Parish and others Vs. Union of India and another,” which establishes the presumption of constitutional validity in enactments.
