India News | HC Rejects PIL Against MPLAD Scheme Suspension

Mumbai, Dec 11 (PTI) The Bombay High Court on Friday dismissed a public interest litigation challenging the Union government's decision to suspend the MPLAD scheme for two years and use its funds for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni dismissed the plea filed by Neelima Vartak, a lawyer herself, through advocate Shekhar Jagtap.

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In the current unprecedented situation when the Union and state governments were trying their best to secure adequate healthcare for people, any opposition to such efforts must be "nipped in the bud", the judges said.

Under the MP Local Area Development scheme, MPs can recommend development programmes involving spending of Rs 5 crore every year in their constituencies.

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The PIL's premise was that since the scheme funds were intended for publicgood, the same created a right for the citizen to oppose its suspension, the court said.

However, no citizen could claim "a legal right" to say that a particular scheme has to be "continued for all times to come" without the government having the option of taking a call on its suspension or diversion of funds, it said.

No Member of Parliament or even other persons besides the petitioner moved the court against the suspension of MPLAD scheme, the high court noted.

The funds were being utilized for better health care facilities, the judges said.

"We hold that by suspending the MPLAD scheme during FYs 2020-21 and 2021-22, there has been no abrogation of any legal right of a citizen which would warrant judicial intervention," the HC ruling declared.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)