Judges cannot fix poverty line: Supreme Court
Monday September 03, 2012 06:36:25 PM, Parmod
Kumar,
IANS
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New Delhi: In a
pronouncement of considerable significance that could check the
judiciary's overstepping into legislative and governmental
functioning, the Supreme Court has said the question of fixing the
poverty line was in the domain of expert bodies like the Planning
Commission and the judiciary could not engage itself in setting
the nation's economic policies.
"This should be left to expert bodies. Reviewing the poverty line
is very difficult. We can't be setting economic policy," the court
said last week in the course of a hearing.
The apex court bench of Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice Fakkir
Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla said this when senior counsel Colin
Gonsalves appearing for People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)
invited the court's attention to the low fixation of the poverty
line norm at Rs 32 per day, an issue that has led to considerable
debate in the country.
As Gonsalves pleaded the government could not shy away from its
responsibilities, particularly towards the vulnerable section of
society, the court said the petitioner should come with
suggestions that could be entertained without stepping into the
domain of governmental functioning.
Shrugging off Gonsalves's plea, Justice Thakur said: "Where is it
written in the constitution that food subsidy should be given?"
"The poverty line is hypothetical. Its only relevance is for
subsidy," he said.
In contrast, the earlier bench of Justice Bhandari and Justice
Dipak Verma had put the government in the dock and compelled it to
revise its below poverty line (BPL) norms of Rs.32 for urban areas
and Rs.26 for rural areas. It even asked the Planning Commission
to spell out the basis on which it had fixed Rs.32 and Rs.26 as
the poverty norms in urban and rural areas.
It is not just that the court appears to be less than
enthusiastic; it appears to be seeking to shrink its monitoring of
welfare schemes.
The court made it clear that it was not going to overstep the
statutory regimes governing the food subsidy scheme for people
living below the poverty line.
The court said monitoring of the public distribution system (PDS)
by it had to come to an end.
"It is going on for six years and it could go on for another 26
years," Justice Thakur said.
He said the court would pass the orders and if they were not
complied with, then the court could be moved for necessary
remedies.
"Once we direct and if they don't follow then you can move the
court. It can be before the Supreme Court or the high courts as
well."
Apparently, a change in the approach could be read into the
restraint that Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia has asked the judges to
exercise before stepping into the territory of the government and
the legislature.
Chief Justice Kapadia spoke of judicial restraint during his
address at a function on Independence Day and also later on.
(Parmod Kumar can be contacted at parmod.k@ians.in)
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