The Supreme Court on Wednesday said political parties and individuals cannot be prevented from making poll promises aimed at fulfilling the constitutional mandate and the term “freebie” should not be confused with genuine welfare measures.
Observing that the voters are not looking for freebies, the apex court referred to the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and said, “Given an opportunity, they will look for dignified earning”. “We all must remember the good old saying: ‘There is no free lunch', '' the apex court said, adding the “concern is about the right way of spending public money”.
“There has to be a distinction between the offer of ornaments, television sets, consumer electronics free of cost and real welfarist offers.
The promise of free coaching for professional courses cannot be compared with the promise of free white goods,” a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said.
The bench, also including justices J K Maheshwari and Hima Kohli is mulling and setting up an expert panel to brainstorm the issue of freebies announced during elections. It said that the issue of regulating freebies is “getting increasingly complicated” and asked all the stakeholders to give their suggestions on the proposed panel while fixing the PIL for hearing on August 22.
The bench said the expression ‘freebie' should not be confused with genuine welfare measures” and gave illustrations to distinguish between freebies and “real welfarist offer”.
“You cannot prevent a political party or individual from making promises that are aimed at fulfilling this constitutional mandate if elected to power. The question is what exactly qualifies as a valid promise,” the CJI observed.
The bench deferred the hearing to August 22 after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said that senior advocate Kapil Sibal wanted to submit his suggestions.