The top court also questioned if a ‘class of parasites’ was being created due to such lucrative announcements.
New Delhi: Coming down heavily on the practice of announcing freebies for the sake of winning elections, the Supreme Court said that people are “unwilling to work” due to such poll promises as they get free ration and money.
“Because of freebies, when elections are declared, the people are not willing to work. They are getting free rations without doing any work,” the apex court remarked. Sorry to say, but by not making these people part of mainstream society, are we not creating a class of parasites?” it asked.
The top court also questioned if a ‘class of parasites’ was being created due to such lucrative announcements.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Augustine George Masih was hearing the matter relating to the right to shelter of homeless persons in urban areas.
Attorney General R Venkataramani informed the bench that the Centre was in the process of finalisation of the urban poverty alleviation mission to address issues such as the provision of shelter for the urban homeless.
The court asked the Attorney General to check with the government about when the urban poverty relief programme would start. The case will be heard again in six weeks.
The Supreme Court’s strong observations came days after the conclusion of the Delhi Assembly Elections in which both BJP and AAP announced a slew of lucrative promises they would fulfill after gaining power.
Some of AAP’s such promises included the Mahila Samman Yojana (Rs 2,100 monthly assistance to every woman), waiver of water bills, free bus rides for male students, and 50% concession on metro fares for all students.
