A division bench comprising Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Chartered Accountant Naveed Abdul Saeed Mulla, seeking to quash the scheme.
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court ruled on Monday (Aug 5) that the Maharashtra Government’s ‘Ladki Bahin Yojana’ is a beneficiary scheme for women and not discriminatory.
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A division bench comprising Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Chartered Accountant Naveed Abdul Saeed Mulla, seeking to quash the scheme.
The bench stated that the way the Government frames a scheme is beyond “judicial purview.”
“It is a policy decision, so we cannot interfere unless there is a violation of any fundamental rights,”
the court noted.
The scheme’s introduction followed a budgetary process, the court noted. “Allocation of funds for the scheme has been made in a budget. Budget-making is a legislative process. Can court interfere?”
CJ Upadhyaya asked.
The PIL argued that the scheme was politically motivated and essentially a “freebie,” introduced to “bribe voters.”
The petitioner’s advocate, Owais Pechkar, contended that taxpayers’ money should not be used for such schemes.
The HC bench questioned whether the court could determine the priorities of government schemes, emphasizing the difference 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, stating that the court cannot mandate the government to introduce specific schemes.
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Pechkar argued that the scheme discriminated among women, as only those earning less than Rs 2.5 lakh per year were eligible. In response, the HC questioned the comparison of a woman earning Rs 2.5 lakh annually to one earning Rs 10 lakh per year, asserting that equality must be considered among equals.
“This is a beneficiary scheme for some women. How is it discrimination? Some woman earning Rs 10 lakh and another woman earning 2.5 lakh…do they fall under the same class or group? Equality has to be pleaded among equals. There is no discrimination,”
the HC said.
The PIL was dismissed without imposing any cost on the petitioner. Under the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana, announced in the state budget, Rs 1,500 will be transferred into the bank accounts of eligible women aged 21 to 65 whose family income is less than Rs 2.5 lakh per annum.
The court concluded that permissible discrimination exists when women earn significantly different amounts.
Despite potentially agreeing with the petitioner personally, the bench stated it could not legally interfere. “This 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.
The petition also claimed the scheme imposed an additional burden on taxpayers, arguing that taxes are collected for infrastructure development, not for “irrational cash schemes.”
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It likened the cash benefit scheme to voter bribery, arguing it was designed to sway votes for coalition government candidates in the upcoming state assembly elections, thus violating the Representation of People Act, 1951, and amounting to “corrupt practice.”
The PIL further highlighted that the scheme would cost around Rs 4,600 crore, a significant burden on Maharashtra, which already carries a debt of Rs 7.8 lakh crore.
