The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Centre on a PIL seeking the implementation of the Nari Shakti Vandan Act, 2023, which mandates 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state legislatures after a fresh delimitation exercise.

A bench headed by Justice B.V. Nagarathna said the court could not direct the government to implement the Act as it was a policy matter, but observed that women were grossly underrepresented despite being the largest minority segment.

“Who is the largest minority in the country? It is the women who constitute 48 per cent… this is about the political equality of women,” Justice Nagarathna said.

The bench, which included Justice Mahadevan, was dealing with a PIL filed by Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Jaya Thakur, who questioned the delay in the implementation of the Act.

Senior advocate Shobha Gupta, appearing for Thakur, told the bench that the issue could not wait indefinitely because the delimitation exercise had not been done.

“Why make it contingent on a future exercise? No exercise has even begun. There is no rational nexus. When the exercise will commence is not mentioned anywhere. They are yet to even start the census,” Gupta said

“Why not give women representation without reservations? Justice Nagarathna asked while noting that only 10 per cent of lawmakers in the country were women.