SC reprimands Centre for not implementing sceheme properly

New Delhi, Feb 1 (UNI) The Supreme Court today pulled up the Centre as well as state governments for not properly implementing the National Social Assistant Scheme aimed at providing financial assistant to expectant mothers living below poverty line.

A Bench comprising Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice S H Kapadia also directed the Centre to consider the feasibilty of the proposals to disburse the funds under the scheme directly to village panchayat for distribution among women, who are pregnant and belong to families living below poverty line.

The court expressed concern over inadequate allocation of funds for the scheme as in the five year plan of 2002-07 the funds were estimated at Rs 1389.5 crore while only Rs 500 crore were allocated which is only 36 per cent of the required allocation. Even this money has not been utilised which shows total lack of concern on the part of the government for those belonging to weaker sections of society.

The court directed the Union Government to file its response within three weeks to the suggestion of the court and order the states to file their response within four weeks.

The court was extremely anguished at the total lack of interest shown by the authorities in implementing the scheme which was supposed to cover 57.5 lakh expectant mothers in 1995-96 when it was launched. Only 10.6 lakhs beneficiaries have been covered annually during last nine years which comes only to 18.5 per cent which is dismal, the bench observed.

The court severely reprimanded the authorities for showing total lack of concern for the downtrodden and deprived sections of society even when they were in absolute majority.

UNI