SC seeks Centre’s response on delay in implementing women’s reservation Act

The Supreme Court on Monday sought the Union government’s response to a petition challenging provisions of the 2023 women’s reservation Act that state that the quota can only be implemented after delimitation of parliamentary constituencies, reported Live Law.

The Constitution One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Amendment Bill, 2023, was passed by the Parliament in September 2023. It reserves one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies for women. The provision will also be applicable as a sub-quota within the seats already reserved for the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories. However, there is no such provision for the Other Backward Classes.

The reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies will be effective only after a census is conducted, followed by a delimitation exercise or the redrawing of boundaries to the constituencies.

The Union government stated in June that India will conduct its population census, which will include caste enumeration, in 2027.

On Monday, a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and R Mahadevan, noting the court’s limitations, stated that it can only ask the Union government when it is planning to implement the Act.

However, it pointed out that the Act was “about the political equality of the woman”, reported Bar and Bench.

“Preamble [to the Constitution] says [all citizens are entitled to] political...

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