SC rejects plea seeking direction to law panel to prepare policy on population control

The Supreme Court Friday rejected a plea seeking a direction to the Law Commission to prepare a comprehensive policy or legislation to deal with population control. A division bench comprising justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and AS Oka refused to entertain the plea filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay and others.

The bench observed that such a direction can not be passed by the court. "Now the court will decide that? There has to be some reasonableness," the bench verbally observed. The petition was dismissed as withdrawn.

The bench did not find force in Upadhyay's argument that while India only had 2% of the world's land, it had 20% of its population.


Refusing to pass any direction, the bench quipped, "How can even the Law Commission be directed".

The clutch of petitions heard along with Upadhyay's plea raised objection to a December 2020 statement by the central government where it argued that it was against coercive family planning.