The Supreme Court on Tuesday said while states have money to give freebies, they claim financial crunch when it comes to paying salaries and pensions to judges. A bench of Justices B R Gavai and A G Masih cited the Ladli Behna Yojana and promises being made ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls. “The state’s have all the money for the people who don’t do any work. When we talk about financial constraints, we also have to look at this. Come elections, you declare Ladli Behna and other new schemes where you pay fixed amounts. In Delhi, we have announcements now from some party or the other saying they will pay `2,500 if they come to power,” Justice Gavai said. The court was hearing a pending plea on the question of salaries and pensions of judicial officers. Justice Gavai’s reference to the freebies came after Attorney General R Venkataraman highlighted the rising pension bill of the government and said financial constraints need to be kept in mind while deciding the issue. Amicus Curiae in the matter and Senior Advocate K Parameshwar said that the judiciary may need to take proactive steps to achieve desired results in the matter. He said that judges need to be paid better to ensure a more diversified judiciary. The development comes even as the top court, which is seized of petitions challenging freebies being announced by political parties ahead of elections, is yet to start heading the matter in detail. A two-judge bench of the SC had in the Subramaniam Balaji case in 2013 held that the “state distributing largesse in the form of distribution of colour TVs, laptops, etc. to eligible and deserving persons is directly related to the Directive Principles of State Policy” and warrants no interference by the court. On August 26, 2022, a three-judge bench, headed by then CJI, referred pleas seeking ban on freebies to a three-judge bench which it said will look into prayers for reconsidering the SC’s verdict in the case.
