Supreme Court Seeks Centre's Response On Plea To Introduce 33% Women Reservation In Parliament & State Assemblies

The Supreme Court on Monday, while hearing a plea seeking to re-introduce the Women's Reservation Bill, 2008 before both the houses of the Parliament, noted that it is an important matter and directed the petitioner to serve notice to the Union of India.

A bench comprising of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice J. K. Maheshwari was hearing a PIL filed by National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW). Advocate Prashant Bhushan appeared for the petitioner.

The Women's Reservation Bill proposed an amendment to the Constitution to introduce 1/3rd reservation for women in Parliament and all State Assemblies.

 It was submitted before the Court in the petition that it has been 25 years since the first women's reservation bill was introduced. The petition also pointed out that the Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha in 2010 but lapsed after the dissolution of the Lok Sabha, it was not placed before the Lok Sabha even though it was passed by the Rajya Sabha.

The petition submitted that, "the non-introduction of the Bill is arbitrary, illegal and is leading to discrimination. It is submitted that the Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha in 2010 and has been crystallized so as to its aims and objectives to a large extent. In view thereof it is submitted that non-introduction of such an important and beneficial Bill, on which there is a virtual consensus of all major political parties, is arbitrary."

The petition further submitted that the framers of the Constitution took steps to curb the menace of discrimination The petition placed reliance on the judgments of Government of Andhra Pradesh vs P. B. Vijay Kumar, Velamuri Venkata Sirprasad vs Kothuri Venkateshwarlu and Air India Cabin Crew Association vs Yeshaswinee Merchant to show that the courts have also taken a stand against the discrimination of women.

It was also submitted in the petition that even in the 75th year of Indian Independence equality of women has not become a reality. "Women represent almost 50% of the population of India but their representation in the Parliament is only about 14%. Therefore, vigorous affirmative action is required to be taken in order to improve the condition of women. Additionally, the reservation for women in panchayats is an apt example to show that women elected under the reservation policy invest more in the public goods closely linked to women's concerns thereby increasing the distribution of resources in favour of women."

The petition further stated that, "empowerment of women through the Bill, will lead to the overall development of the country particularly the women and will also aid in dealing with the socio-economic as well as political inequality that are both intertwined…. Given the systematic derecognition of women's work in the socio-economic realm, their deliberate exclusion from political participation is unacceptable and violation of their democratic and constitutional rights."

It was stated in the petition that bill and its objectives have been supported by the political parties and the manifestoes of the parties have included the promise of passing of the Bill like that of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), Indian National Congress (INC), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Shiromani Akali Dal, Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM), Biju Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party, National Congress Party (NCP). The Government has always given frivolous reason for the delay in passing of the bill whereas there are several bills that are passed without any discussions or deliberations. It was pointed out that in the Monsoon session of 2021 as many as 20 bills were passed in both the Houses of Parliament without discussion.

The petition stated that, "Without prejudice to the stand of the Petitioner that there is a need for discussion and deliberation before passing of any Bill, it is submitted that the Respondent cannot be allowed to keep a Bill, that has been passed by one House and enjoys the support of a majority of mainstream political parties, hanging indefinitely on the pretext of further consideration and need for consensus between political parties."

Case Title : National Federation of Indian Women versus Union of India | WP(c) 1158/2021