Laws should not be reduced to ‘lip service’, top court tells govt

The government must take care of the financial aspects of a welfare law so that it does not become “lip service”, the Supreme Court observed on Monday.

The remarks were made by a bench headed by justice Uday U Lalit that was taking stock of the efficacy of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, in terms of the number of competent protection officers as well as the number of shelter homes.

“Allow us to give you (Centre) unsolicited advice. Whenever you come up with a legislation that creates rights, you must also make arrangements for the funds and have financial impact in your mind. Right to Education (Act) is a classic example. The Act was made, but where are the schools? Where do the states get the teachers? There are not enough schools or teachers,” the bench, which also comprised justices S Ravindra Bhat and PS Narasimha, told additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati.

On the implementation of the RTE Act, the court went on to add: “Some states have shikhsa mitras or something like that, and these ad hoc teachers get ₹5,000 only. Then follows a spate of litigation on parity in payment with regular teachers or regularisation of their services. When we ask the states, they reply they don’t have money. You must address these issues when you frame a law. Otherwise, it becomes just lip-service.”

Bhati was appearing for the central government to apprise the top court of the steps taken by them to make the domestic violence Act effective, since its inception 17 years ago.

The court was dealing with a PIL filed by ‘We the Women of India’, an NGO that has alleged that the protection officers provided under the Act are not sufficient and further claimed that revenue officers were being asked to double up as protection officers.