New Delhi [India], February 12 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to Union of India through ministry of Law and Justice on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a declaration that Article 334A(1) or Clause 5 of the Women's Reservation Act, 2023, is unconstitutional.
The plea moved by a forum naming National Federation of Indian Women states that requiring the delimitation exercise as a prerequisite for implementing the Act is unlawful.
The bench led by Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay also comprising Justice Tushar Rao Gedela sought response of Ministry of Law and Justice and fixed the matter for April 9, 2025 for further hearing.
Representing the petitioner, Advocate Prashant Bhushan stated that the Article 334A (1) in so far as it renders delimitation of constituencies a prerequisite effectively defers the implementation of the Act. According to the impugned clause, the Act is proposed to be enforced after an exercise of delimitation is undertaken for the purpose following the first census after the enactment of the bill.
Notably, no such clause was present in the earlier versions of the Women's Reservation Bill and no such requirement was postulated for the other classes reserved for in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, stated the plea.
It also stated that there is no rationale for the census and consequently thedelimitation exercise as a prerequisite to grant reservations to women. That an updation and allocation of seats for reservations of the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribes has rational basis in view of the Section 9 sub-section (1) of the Delimitation Act which mandates reservations proportionately for these classes.
However, the populations of women are consistent all across India. This is verifiable by statistics published by the National Family Health Survey and the previous Censuses, it added.
The impugned clause enjoys no historical or logical rationale which render it arbitrary and unreasonable, plea read.
The plea stated that the Supreme Court recently disposed of the matter, directing the petitioner to seek any other remedy permissible under the law.