NEW DELHI: After getting critical remarks on various issues of governance like ‘why not dump waste at Raj Niwas and women getting raped left, right and centre’, from a Supreme Court bench led by Justice Madan Lokur , the Centre on Wednesday fielded attorney general K K Venugopal who said the judiciary must exercise restraint while making observations on PILs.

The bench, which had inundated the Centre and states with stinging observations for not doing enough to protect environment and disadvantaged sections of society like widows, prisoners and farmers, found itself at the receiving end with the Centre taking the bench head-on. But the court remained firm and told the Centre how abjectly it had failed to implement the laws framed by Parliament.

It said the court was not holding the Centre responsible for all problems, but intervening to solve some issues. The top law officer pointed out that various SC judgments like scrapping of 2G licences and closure of liquor vends within 500 metres of highways had impacted foreign investment and led to job losses. The AG said PILs should not be blindly entertained and the court must assess its impact on the ground before passing orders.

The AG said the Centre runs around 90 welfare schemes and expenditure is budgeted. “The government has limited funds. When the court asks the government to focus on something else... the government has to take out money budgeted for these welfare schemes and spend it on court-directed projects resulting in inadequate funds for other schemes,” he said.

Justice Lokur said judges are also citizens of the country and they also understand the problems. He said the court is trying to solve some of the problems faced by widows, prisoners and people belonging to vulnerable sections of society. Justifying judicial intervention on social issues, Justice Lokur said the government failed to implement laws passed by Parliament and there was nothing wrong in the court making the Centre accountable.

Countering the arguments on crunch of funds, the court said that governments are sitting on over Rs 150,000 crore which were collected for protection of environment under CAMPA and welfare of construction workers under construction cess on its directions and not utilising for the purpose for which the funds were collected.

Justice Lokur said that money meant of welfare of construction workers were being used to purchase washing machines and laptops for the administration. “Rest assured that Article 21 (right to life and liberty) would remain there in the Constitution,” the bench said, indicating that it would not remain a mute spectator when rights of people are violated and funds meant for the poor and disadvantaged misused.

