The Supreme Court on Wednesday deprecated the
practice of announcing freebies prior to elections, and said people were not
willing to work as they were getting free ration and money.
The observations came from a bench of Justices B R
Gavai and Augustine George Masih which was hearing a matter concerning the
right to shelter of homeless persons in urban areas.
"Unfortunately, because of these freebies...
the people are not willing to work. They are getting free rations. They are
getting amount without doing any work," Justice Gavai observed.
"We quite appreciate your concern for them but
would it not be better to make them a part of the mainstream of society and
permit them to contribute to the development of the nation," the bench
said.
Attorney General R Venkataramani told
the bench that the Centre was in the process of finalising the urban poverty
alleviation mission, which would address various issues, including the
provision of shelter for the urban homeless.
The bench asked the Attorney General to verify from
the Centre as to within how much time the urban poverty alleviation mission
would be made applicable.
The top court posted the matter for hearing after
six weeks.