Give details of all welfare schemes, SC tells government

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has directed the government to provide details on all welfare schemes, including NREGA, to weed out corruption and make concerned officials accountable.

"All departments concerned would assist in providing the objective and results of the schemes," said a bench comprising Justice GS Singhvi and Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya in a suo moto order on Friday.

The bench appointed senior counsel Indu Malhotra as amicus curiae in the matter and called a comprehensive report within three months. The court requested Ms Malhotra to study details of all the welfare schemes being implemented by the Centre and states throughout the country and identify crucial areas, including corruption, faulty implementation and lack of funds.

It directed all government departments to provide every detail on the welfare schemes to the amicus. The bench passed the order taking into account the rampant corruption in the implementation of the welfare schemes. "Out of Rs 1, only one paisa reaches the poor. The money in these schemes should reach the poor men and not middlemen and government officials," the bench said.

The judges expressed its serious displeasure over money pocketed by the middlemen and not reaching the intended beneficiaries of the schemes. "We know about sharks but people forget there are piranha fishes which eat into the system," it said bracketing the middlemen with the "piranha fish".

The court directed its registry to extend all the requisite support to the amicus into the matter. The SC took a suo motu cognisance on the matter after a petition filed by a contractor named R Gopalakrishnan came up for hearing. It was filed against Tamil Nadu Civic Supplies Corporation and others.

The petitioner had came to the apex court demanding his dues in transporting of rice to several districts for distribution under the government's Sampurna Gramin Rojgar Yojna in TN. The SGRY was meant to provide additional wage employment, to ensure food security and create durable community, social and economic infrastructure in rural areas.

It stressed on providing wage employment to women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and parents of children withdrawn from hazardous occupations. The court, however, dismissed the petition but passed the order bringing into its scrutiny the working of all the government's welfare schemes.

The common perception is that most of the money intended to be spent on the welfare measures were siphoned off, a charge that has been by and large accepted by the political class.