New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged population as a major concern for his government this Independence Day, but his administration’s failure to reply has stonewalled a petition for a population-control law filed in the Delhi High Court.
A division bench of the high court Tuesday disposed of the petition, which sought directions to the Centre to enact a population-control law, after a notice to the Ministry of Home Affairs failed to elicit a response.
The notice was issued on 29 May, after a bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Brijesh Sethi admitted the plea filed by BJP’s Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay.
As it disposed of the plea, another bench comprising Justice D.N. Patel and Justice C. Harishankar said the court’s “work begins after the enactment of the law”. Legislation is the function of the executive and the legislature.
The court said if the petition was allowed, then “the court would have to perform the work of the various departments of the government”.
Population explosion is one of the most pressing concerns for India in its pursuit of progress. According to a UN report released in June, India is pegged to overtake China as the world’s most populous country around 2027. It currently has a population of about 1.37 billion people.
In his I-Day speech, Modi had described having small families as an act of patriotism, noting with concern the “unrestrained” growth in population.
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Petitioner wanted rights of violators withdrawn
Petitioner Upadhyay said the right to clean air, drinking water, health, peaceful sleep, shelter, livelihood and education could not be secured for citizens without effective population control.
He asked the court to direct the Centre to study the feasibility of implementing the 24th recommendation of the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC, Justice Venkatchaliah commission), which sought a constitutional provision for population control and implementation of “small family norms”.
Stating that the government had not implemented the proposal of the NCRWC, which was set up in the early 2000s, the petitioner called for strict penalties to punish the violation of population-control mechanisms, like the withdrawal of statutory rights like voting, contesting elections and owning property.
He also requested the court to issue directions to the Law Commission to work on the subject “as it had done on earlier occasions”, besides seeking government-run awareness programmes on population explosion.
However, the court rejected the submission.
“It is for Parliament or the state legislature to set two-child norm as a criteria (sic) for government jobs, aides and subsidies, right to vote, right to contest, right to property etc,” the high court said.
While disposing of the petition, the court said it saw “no reason” to entertain this plea. “Enactment of a law is the work of Parliament and the state legislatures,” the chief justice stated.
Also read: India’s population increased an average 1.2% annually this decade, more than double of China
This report has been updated to correctly reflect the names of the judges who disposed of the petition