Govt's attitude towards lack of jobs appalling: SC

 

Reiterating that the right to livelihood is a fun damental right, the Supreme Court on Monday slammed the government for its “callo us“ attitude towards tackling the problem of unemploy ment in the country .A bench of Justices V Go pal Gowda and Amitava Roy said that “there is absence of employment potentiality in the country on account of non-governance and non-imp lementation of the Constitu tional philosophy of an egali tarian society , which provides opportunity to all individuals to lead a life of dignity“.

The Supreme Court pas sed the observation while hea ring a plea of South Central Railway Caterers'Associa tion, challenging the govern ment's decision not to renew their licences for stalls on rail way platforms.

The court raised the ques tion why the government is ta king such harsh action aga inst small vendors while allo wing big private players to use railway properties without increasing their licence fee for years.

Observing that it is duty bound to ensure that the rights of the downtrodden and minorities are not tramp led upon, the bench directed the railways to allow the small vendors to carry on with their business.

“The callous attitude and inaction on the part of the State in tackling the problem of rising unemployment is appalling. The situation is made worse by the handing over public functions to pri vate entrepreneurs, who then exploit the policies of the go vernment,“ the bench said.

“It is the duty of every welfare state to generate employment. Presently , millions of youths of the country are unemployed. The right to livelihood is a part of right to life, as has been held in the case of Olga Tellis. A vast majority of the unemployed population of the country is susceptible to being exploited by the rich and the capitalists. It is the duty of the state, acting through its instrumentalities to ensure that no person in a vulnerable position is exploited,“ it said.

In July 1985, the apex court had expanded the scope of the right to life under Article 21of the Constitution to include right to livelihood in a case filed by journalist Olga Tellis on behalf of pavement dwellers against Bombay Municipal Corporation.