Free distribution of televisions, laptops and mixer-grinders among people by the government is linked to the directive principles of state policy and not a waste of public resources, Tamil Nadu told the Supreme Court Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Senior counsel Shekhar Naphade, appearing for the state, told an apex court bench headed by Justice P. Sathasivam: \u201cThe state giving largesse like TVs, laptops, mixer-grinders and others is directly related to the directive principles.\u201d<\/p>\n
The court was hearing a plea filed by a Chennai advocate S. Subramaniam Balaji against the government\u2019s schemes for giving free TVs, laptops and mixer-grinders.<\/p>\n
The petitioner has questioned the previous DMK government\u2019s free colour television distribution scheme as well as the present AIADMK government\u2019s decision to distribute free mixer-grinders to women and laptops to students.<\/p>\n
Naphade submitted that the common man receiving some benefit from a government largesse was not a matter that warranted the apex court\u2019s intervention.<\/p>\n
Stressing that what was once a luxury had become a necessity, Naphade said the concept of livelihood was not confined to food, clothing and shelter but also included provision for medicine, transport, education, recreation and others.<\/p>\n
He said implementing the directive principles of state policy was a matter within the government domain.<\/p>\n
Dismissing the petitioner\u2019s contention that the promise of freebies by political parties in their election manifestoes was a corrupt practice, Naphade said what constituted electoral corrupt practice had been dealt by the Representation of People Act.<\/p>\n
Naphade said the manifesto of a political party was a statement of its policy and a promise of future government if the party came to power and not that of an individual candidate.<\/p>\n
He said the Representation of People Act did not fetter the powers of political parties from making promises in their election manifesto.<\/p>\n
Speaking to IANS, Balaji said that the case was adjourned for Wednesday.<\/p>\n
He said the Election Commission wrote to him last August saying: \u201cThe commission also feels like you that the promise of such freebies at government cost disturbs the level playing field and vitiates the electoral process.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Free distribution of televisions, laptops and mixer-grinders among people by the government is linked to the directive principles of state policy and not a waste of public resources, Tamil Nadu told the Supreme Court Tuesday. Senior counsel Shekhar Naphade, appearing for the state, told an apex court bench headed by Justice P. Sathasivam: \u201cThe state […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[19346],"class_list":["post-24901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-law-news","tag-free-tvs-no-waste-of-public-money"],"yoast_head":"\n