The Supreme Court on Wednesday slapped fines on eight State Governments and pulled them up for “not bothering” about the welfare of widows and destitute women by not heeding to the Centre’s proposal for setting up expert committee to deal with the problem.
A bench of Justices Madan B lokur and Deepak Gupta also suggested that the Centre should consider framing “one proper and first class” composite scheme by merging a plethora of existing ones, which was accepted by the Government.
“If they (States) do not want to do it, they will not do this. If they are not bothered about women of their own state, then what should we do. There are issues raised about gender justice, but they are not bothered.
They do not want to do anything,” a seemingly anguished bench said.
The top court imposed cost of Rs 50,000 each on Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and Odisha and directed them to deposit it within four weeks with the Supreme Court legal Services Committee for utilisation in issues related to juvenile justice.
It also slapped cost of Rs 25,000 each on Maharashtra, West Bengal, Punjab, Uttarakhand for giving “incomplete information” to the Ministry of Women and Child Development.