NEW DELHI: Ahead of the upcoming special session of Parliament, the Supreme Court is slated to hear, on Monday, a plea seeking immediate implementation of 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Legislative Assemblies.
As per the causelist uploaded on the website of the apex court, a bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan is scheduled to hear the petition filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur.
Contending that the benefit of one-third quota for women should not be deferred, the plea has sought immediate enforcement of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, which provides for one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies.
In November 2023, the top court had observed that it would be "very difficult" to strike down the provision in the law which stipulates that the quota for women will come into force only after the completion of the next decennial Census and the subsequent delimitation exercise.
The plea had argued that such preconditions are not necessary as the number of seats is already determined, and that women, who constitute nearly half of the country’s population, remain underrepresented in elected bodies.