SC refuses to entertain plea seeking immediate implementation of Women Reservation Bill

New Delhi, Jan 12: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea filed by an advocate seeking implementation of the Women Reservation Bill before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls on the basis of existing census data.

A bench presided over by Justice Sanjiv Khanna asked the petitioner -- Yogamaya MG -- to instead file an impleadment application in the pending batch of petitions raising the same issue.

The bench, also comprising Justice Dipankar Datta, allowed the petitioner to withdraw her public interest litigation (PIL) saying that it does not want multiplicity of litigation in the matter.

It may be recalled that the top court is already seized of a PIL filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur seeking immediate implementation of Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam Bill 2023 which was passed in September last year in a special session of Parliament and mandates a 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and all state Assemblies, including Delhi.

The women reservation law does not intend to alter the composition of the present Lok Sabha or existing Legislative Assemblies, but will apply once they are freshly constituted on completion of their respective tenure or on being dissolved for any other cause.

It is speculated that the quota for women will be completely rolled out nationwide in 2029 post completion of delimitation exercise and will continue for a term of 15 years.

In her plea, advocate Yogamaya MG, prayed for directions mandating the urgent and time-bound implementation of the Constitution (One Hundred Twenty- Eighth Amendment) Bill on the basis of 2001 or 2011 census data under the provisions of Delimitation Commission Act, 2002 in the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2024.

She contended that "dependence on an indeterminable event, coupled with setbacks in the 2021 census, weakens the robustness of the statute's implementation".