The Supreme Court scheduled the case for a rehearing on July 5. (Case)
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court allowed a plea seeking to make the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare a party to a public interest litigation that sought certain measures, including the two-child standard, to control the country’s growing population .
A bench of Judge Sanjiv Khanna adopted the instructions on May 7 on the plea filed by BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay who had sought the impeachment of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare instead of the ministry of the Interior in his plea.
“This application for the establishment of the Department of Health and Family Welfare in place of the Department of the Interior is permitted, subject to all just exceptions,” the bench said, while entering the case. for a new hearing on July 5.
Mr Upadhyay had filed the public interest litigation challenging a Delhi High Court order that rejected a plea requesting certain measures, including the two-child standard, to control the country’s growing population.
The Center previously told the court that India is unequivocally against forcing family planning on its people and that any coercion to have a certain number of children is counterproductive and leads to demographic distortions.
In an affidavit filed in the High Court, the Center told the court that the family protection program in the country was voluntary in nature, which allowed couples to decide on their family size and adopt the family planning methods that suited them best, according to their choice and without any constraint.
The plea said the High Court failed to understand that the rights to clean air, clean water, health, peaceful sleep, housing, livelihood and education guaranteed by Articles 21 and 21A of the Constitution could not be guaranteed to all citizens without controlling the population. explosion.
The plea in the High Court had claimed that the people of India had “walked ahead” of China, as around 20% of Indians had no Aadhaar and were therefore disregarded, and there was also crores of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis living illegally in the country.
He claimed that “the population explosion was also the root cause of corruption”, in addition to being a contributing factor to heinous crimes like rape and domestic violence.
It also made the population explosion responsible for pollution and the scarcity of resources and jobs.