'Ladki Bahin Yojana' a beneficiary scheme for women, not discriminatory: HC

The Bombay High Court on Monday said the Maharashtra governments Ladki Bahin Yojana is a beneficiary scheme for women and cannot be said to be discriminatory reported news agency PTIA division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar dismissed a public interest litigation PIL filed by citybased Chartered Accountant Naveed Abdul Saeed Mulla seeking to quash the Ladki Bahin Yojana scheme reported PTIThe bench said in what manner the government has to frame a scheme is out of the judicial purviewIt is a policy decision so we cannot interfere unless there is violation of any fundamental rights the court said reported PTIThe bench dismissed the PIL but said it was not imposing any cost on the petitionerUnder the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana which was announced in the state budget Rs 1500 is slated to be transferred into the bank accounts of eligible women in the age group of 21 to 65 years whose family income was less than Rs 25 lakhThe PIL claimed the scheme was politically motivated and was actually a freebie introduced by the government to bribe voters reported PTIThe petitioners advocate Owais Pechkar argued that taxpayers money should not be used for such schemesThe Bombay High Court bench however questioned if the court could fix the priorities of schemes for the governmentThe petitioner has to differentiate between a freebie and a social welfare scheme it saidCan we court fix priorities of the government Do not invite us into the political thicketalthough it may be tempting for us CJ Upadhyaya said reported PTIEvery decision of the government of the day is political he addedThe bench said as a court it cannot ask the government to introduce one scheme or the otherPechkar claimed the scheme discriminated among women as only those who earned less than Rs 25 lakh per year were eligible for its benefit reported PTITo this the HC questioned how could a woman earning Rs 25 lakh per annum be compared to one earning Rs 10 lakh per yearThis is a beneficiary scheme for some women How is it discrimination Some woman earning Rs 10 lakh and another woman earning 25 lakhdo they fall under the same class or group Equality has to be pleaded among equals There is no discrimination the HC said reported PTISome women earning less than others do not fall under the same group hence this kind of discrimination is permissible it saidThe court said the Ladki Bahin Yojana scheme was introduced after a budgetary processAllocation of funds for the scheme has been made in a budget Budgetmaking is a legislative process Can court interfere CJ Upadhyaya askedThe bench said even if personally speaking it agrees with the petitioner it cannot interfere legallyThis is a welfare scheme targeting certain sections of society which for some reason is in a disadvantageous position These are social welfare measures the court said reported PTIThe petition had claimed that through the impugned government scheme an additional burden is put on direct and indirect taxpayersexchequers as the taxes are collected for infrastructure development and not for irrational cash schemesSuch kind of cash benefit scheme was synonym to bribery or gift to voters of certain class to vote in favour of a certain candidate on behalf of parties in the present coalition government contesting in the upcoming state assembly elections the petition said reported PTIIt claimed such scheme was against provisions of the Representation of People Act 1951 and amounted to corrupt practiceThe PIL further claimed the Ladki Bahin Yojana scheme for women would cost around Rs 4600 crore and it is a huge burden on the debtridden state of Maharashtra which is already in debt of Rs 78 lakh crore and therefore same be quashed and set asideWith inputs from PTI