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Anun Dhawan & Ors. vs Union of India & Ors.

Not available · 2024 INSC 136Decided 22 Feb 2024
Not available
Justice Bela M. Trivedi · Justice Pankaj Mithal

Background

A group of social activists filed a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution seeking a Supreme Court direction to the Union, States, and Union Territories to set up "Community Kitchens" nationwide to combat hunger, malnutrition, and starvation deaths, along with a direction to the National Legal Services Authority to frame a related scheme and to the Centre to create a "National Food Grid" beyond the existing Public Distribution System. Over the course of the litigation, the Court had directed the Union to consult stakeholders on the idea, and the States/UTs filed responses describing the welfare schemes they already run (such as Poshan Abhiyan, Mid-Day Meal, PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, and One Nation One Ration Card), stating that no starvation or malnutrition deaths had been reported in their jurisdictions.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court declined to direct the States/UTs to implement Community Kitchens as demanded. It reasoned that the National Food Security Act, 2013 already provides a comprehensive legal framework (covering the Targeted Public Distribution System, Mid-Day Meal Scheme, Integrated Child Development Services, and maternity benefits) complete with its own monitoring and grievance-redressal mechanisms, and that States/UTs had implemented various welfare schemes under it. The Court reiterated the well-settled principle that judicial review of government policy is limited to examining its legality, not its wisdom, fairness, or whether a better alternative exists. Courts are not policy advisors to the executive and cannot direct adoption of a specific scheme just because it might be preferable. It therefore left it open to the States/UTs to voluntarily explore Community Kitchens or similar measures within the existing NFSA framework, without directing any state to adopt them.

Lesson Learnt

Courts can enforce a citizen's existing statutory and constitutional welfare entitlements, but they will not dictate the specific policy mechanism a government must use to fulfil those entitlements: the choice between different welfare schemes to combat hunger remains within the executive's policy domain, so long as an adequate legal framework already exists.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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