Tuesday, February 18th, 2025

Supreme Court refused to hear the petition against Women’s Reservation Act, know the reason

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to hear petitions challenging the delimitation clause in the 2023 Nari Shakti Vandan Act. This Act provides for reservation of one-third seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assembly. Justice Bela M. Trivedi and Justice P.B. Varle’s bench refused to consider the petitions filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur and National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) under Article 32 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court rejected Jaya Thakur’s petition terming it as frivolous. , because she was challenging the bill, which has now become law. The top court had said on Jaya Thakur’s petition that it would be very difficult to repeal any part of the women’s reservation law, as it would come into force after the census and delimitation.

What are the provisions in the Act?
The Act provides for a quota within the quota for women belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. However, the opposition had demanded to extend benefits to women belonging to Other Backward Classes (OBC) also. The limitation clause was challenged in NFIW’s petition. The Supreme Court advised to take it to the High Court or other appropriate forum. NFIW challenged the constitutional validity of Article 334A (1) or Clause 5 of the 2023 Act, which states that delimitation of constituencies shall be mandatory before implementation of the law.

what is the whole matter
On September 21, 2023, the bill was passed almost unanimously in the Lok Sabha and unanimously in the Rajya Sabha.
– On September 29, 2023, President Draupadi Murmu gave his/her approval to the bill.
According to the Act, women will get reservation for 15 years. Parliament can also increase it later.
– The next census and delimitation of constituencies will be necessary for the implementation of reservation.
Currently, women’s participation in the Lok Sabha is about 15% and in the Legislative Assembly of many states it is less than 10%.
– Efforts were going on to pass the Women’s Reservation Bill since 1996. The Rajya Sabha passed the bill in 2010, but it could not be passed in the Lok Sabha.

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