The Supreme Court of India has issued notice on a writ petition challenging the provision in the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023 (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam), which makes the implementation of 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies contingent on the completion of delimitation after the next census.

The notice was part of the hearing before a bench comprising Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice R. Mahadevan. The petitioner, Dr. Jaya Thakur, a Congress leader from Madhya Pradesh, contends there is no rational nexus in linking women’s reservation implementation to an uncertain future delimitation exercise.

The petition points out that no delimitation work or census has started, making the reservation’s effective commencement indefinite and uncertain. Relying on constitutional principles, the petitioner argues that this contingency violates Articles 14, 19, and 21 by indefinitely deferring a fundamental representative right.

During the hearing, Justice Nagarathna observed that enforcement of the law falls within the executive’s domain, to which the petitioner responded that her concern is only the indefinite contingency clause. The bench directed the government to file its response, remarking that it can inquire about the government’s expected timeline for delimitation.

The petition seeks to have the conditional clause “after the delimitation is undertaken for this purpose after the relevant figures for the first census” under Article 334A(1) declared void ab initio to enable immediate implementation of women’s reservation in legislatures.

The petition underscores that past constitutional amendments were implemented immediately without tethering reservations to census or delimitation exercises, asserting that the present clause defeats the purpose of adequate women’s representation despite their population parity.

Appearances:

Appearing for the Petitioner: Senior Advocate Shobha Gupta

Petition filed through: Advocate Varun Thakur