On Monday, the Bombay High Court ruled that the Maharashtra government's 'Ladki Bahin Yojana' is a beneficiary scheme for women and cannot be said to be discriminatory. The court's decision came as a division bench, led by Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar, dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by city-based Chartered Accountant Naveed Abdul Saeed Mulla, who had sought to invalidate the scheme.
The bench noted that determining how the government should design its schemes falls outside the "judicial purview." "It is a policy decision, and we cannot interfere unless there is a violation of fundamental rights," the court stated.
The bench dismissed the PIL but chose not to impose any costs on the petitioner. The Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana, introduced in the state budget, stipulates that Rs 1,500 will be transferred to the bank accounts of eligible women aged 21 to 65 years whose family income is below Rs 2.5 lakh.
The PIL claimed the scheme was politically motivated and was actually a "freebie", introduced by the government to "bribe voters". The petitioner's advocate, Owais Pechkar, contended that taxpayers' money should not be allocated to such schemes. However, the High Court bench questioned whether it is within the court's authority to determine the priorities of government schemes. The court noted that the petitioner needs to differentiate between a freebie and a social welfare scheme.
"Can we (court) fix priorities of the government? Do not invite us into the political thicket although it may be tempting for us," CJ Upadhyaya said. "Every decision of the government of the day is political," he added. The bench said as a court it cannot ask the government to introduce one scheme or the other.