Supreme Court refuses to hear pleas against 2023 Women Reservation Act

A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and P B Varale was not inclined to entertain the petitions filed by one Jaya Thakur and the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) under Article 32 of the Constitution.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed PILs concerning the implementation of the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023 and challenging the delimitation clause respectively with regard to 33 per cent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and state legislatures.

A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Prasanna B Varale said that there is no question of violation of fundamental rights under Article 14 of the Constitution, and therefore, the Article 32 based petition will not be entertained.

Congress leader Jaya Thakur claimed that the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023, which proposes to introduce 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha, the upper houses of the state legislatures, and the Delhi legislative assembly, once passed with overwhelming support in a special session called for the purpose, cannot be withheld.

Though the constitutional amendment was made into the law after the assent of President Droupadi Murmu in September 2023, the act will not to be implemented until a delimitation exercise is conducted following the next census.

The court dismissed the writ petition as infructuous as the petitioner's advocate Varun Thakur stated that he had challenged the Bill, which has now become a legislation.

Earlier, with regard to the PIL, the Court had expressed reservations about directing the Union Government to immediately implement before the 2024 general elections, the 2023 Act.

In the second PIL filed by the National Federation of India Women, represented by Advocate Prashant Bhushan, the Court stated that it is not inclined to entertain the plea. The bench said that the petitioner could approach the High Court if it wants to challenge the constitutionality.

"If there is any constitutionality involved, you may challenge before the High Court," the bench said.

In the NFIW's petition, the challenge was to the 'delimitation clause' which sought to defer its implementation and urged the union government to dispense with the requirement of conducting a census and a delimitation exercise first.