New Delhi, Aug 19 The Delhi High Court on Wednesday disapproved of the BJP-led city government's move to make endorsement by the local MP/MLA a requirement to avail benefit under the 'Delhi Lakshmi Yojana', which offers financial aid of Rs 2,500 per month to women here.
A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia observed that eligibility can be ascertained by seeking documents, such as an income certificate and domicile, and asked the Delhi government counsel to come back with instructions on August 24.
"Seek instructions. We can't approve of it," the bench said.
It asked why it wanted an endorsement and there were 2,000 ways to assess this.
"Why are you asking them to approach the MLA or the MP?" the bench told the government counsel.
"List on Monday to enable the counsel to take instructions as to how an endorsement letter from MP/MLA is being required to be furnished by the persons seeking benefit of the Delhi Lakshmi Yojana," it ordered.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) on the issue by former Congress councillor Abhishek Dutt and sitting councillor Vedpal Sheetal Chaudhary.
The bench observed that the requirement of an endorsement by a legislator was not mentioned in the scheme, which has laid down detailed eligibility criteria for availing benefit under it.
"We are of a prima facie view that in assessing as to whether a woman fulfils the criteria, various documents can be asked for. It is possible that a woman may or may not get the endorsement of the MP/MLA of her constituency. In any case, the scheme does not mention any requirement of an endorsement letter," the court said.
The petition said that a mandatory endorsement or recommendation letter from the local MP/MLA as a precondition under the scheme conferred "unbridled discretion upon political representatives and converted a State welfare entitlement into an instrument of political patronage".
The PIL informed that the scheme became operational on August 1, when the government launched the online registration portal, where submission of the recommendation or endorsement letter by the concerned MP or MLA has been made a mandatory document for registration.
The plea stated that there are neither any suggested timelines and decision-making metrics for the MPs or MLAs for issuing such recommendations nor a grievance redressal mechanism in case such an endorsement is rejected.
Besides assailing the requirement of a mandatory recommendation or endorsement letter from a legislator, the PIL also seeks directions for framing objective, transparent and non-arbitrary administrative guidelines for the verification and disbursement of financial aid under the scheme without political interference or unguided executive discretion.
According to the scheme guidelines approved by the cabinet, women aged between 21 and 60 years whose family income is up to Rs 2.5 lakh per annum are eligible to apply for seeking benefit under it.
Women already receiving benefits under any other financial assistance scheme or pension, taxpayers, government employees, with more than three living children, families with annual electricity consumption exceeding 2,400 units, those owning four-wheelers, or families with any member in government service or facing a criminal case will not be eligible.
The other eligibility conditions are that the eldest eligible woman in a family is allowed to apply, the applicants or their parents or husbands must have been residents of Delhi for at least 10 years and the beneficiary must be a registered voter in the national capital.
