During the hearing in the Supreme Court on a petition challenging “irrational freebies” offered by political parties, Chief Justice of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana, heading a three-judge Bench, observed on Tuesday that the parties were “all on one side and everybody wants freebies” to continue.
The court’s intervention, especially a proposal to form an expert broad-based committee to look into the “problem” of freebies, has been met with a furious political backlash from across the political spectrum in the States, many saying that welfare measures undertaken for the people are being misinterpreted in court as “freebies”.
Also read | Freebies come at a price: economist
