Full Judgment Text
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CASE NO.:
Writ Petition (civil) 196 of 2001
PETITIONER:
People\022s Union for Civil Liberties
RESPONDENT:
Union of India & Ors
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 20/11/2007
BENCH:
Dr. ARIJIT PASAYAT & S.H. KAPADIA
JUDGMENT:
J U D G M E N T
IA NOS. 34, 35, 37, 40, 49, 54, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62 & 77
IN
WRIT PETITION (C) NO. 196 OF 2001
WITH SUO MOTO CONTEMPT PETITION (C) NO. 128 OF 2007
IN W.P. (C) NO.196 OF 2001 IN RE: CHIEF SECRETARY
STATE OF BIHAR AND 4 ORS.
Dr. ARIJIT PASAYAT, J.
1. By this order two IAs. No.37 of 2004 and No.54 of 2005
stand disposed of. IA No.37 of 2004 is an application by the
Union of India for permission to modify the National Maternity
Benefit Scheme (in short \021NMBS\022) and to introduce a new
scheme called the Janani Suraksha Yojana (in short \021JSY\022). IA
No.54 of 2005 is an application by the petitioner questioning
legality of the discontinuation of the benefit under the NMBS
due to introduction of JSY. By order dated 27.4.2004 this
Court directed as follows:
\023No Scheme\005in particular\005.National
Maternity Benefit Scheme shall be
discontinued or restricted in any way without
prior approval of the Court.\024
2. Again by order dated 9.5.2005 this Court directed as
follows:
\023By LA 37, permission is sought to modify The
National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBC)
and to introduce a new scheme namely Janani
Suraksha Yojana (JSY). Whereas in IA 54, the
prayer is that the Scheme should not be
modified by reducing, abridging or qualifying
in any way the social assistance entitlements
created under the original scheme of NMBS for
expecting BPL mothers, including rash
entitlement of Rs.500/- provided therein. We
have requested learned Additional Solicitor
General to place on record further material in
the form of affidavit to effectively implement
the new Scheme sought to be introduced. The
further material shall include the approximate
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distance of Public Health Centre from the
residential complexes and the facility of
transportation etc. The Commissioner shall
also examine the matter in depth and file a
report. The response to the application may be
filed within eight weeks. Meanwhile, the
existing National Maternity Benefit Scheme will
continue.\024
3. The government set a numerical ceiling of 57.5 lakh
beneficiaries as the annual target for NMBS. However, the
number of beneficiaries under JSY in 2006-07 was only 26.2
lakh i.e. 45.5% and in the year 2005-06 this was as low as
5.7 lakh i.e. 10%. While there has been an improvement in
the last one year, the coverage under this scheme is still way
below the target number of women to be covered by the
NMBS.
4. According to the Union of India the JSY was introduced
to put a premium on the willingness of poor women to go in
for institutional delivery instead of home delivery. But it was
recognized that in States with lower institutional delivery
rates, one of the reasons for low performance have been
lesser availabilities of facilities in the Health Centres, which
act as disincentive for the poor illiterate women to seek the
services.
5. Pursuant to the order of this Court dated 9.5.2005 the
Commissioner had prepared a report.
6. After discussions with the Commissioner appointed by
this Court, senior officials, the Central Government took a
decision to modify the JSY Scheme to continue benefits of
NMBS and also to improve upon such benefits for non-
institutional delivery, where the woman chooses to deliver
her baby at home. In this connection, a letter dated
13.7.2006 was written to the Commissioner by the Secretary
health and Family Welfare under the amended JSY. The Low
Performing States and High Performing States were defined
as follows:
\0234.1 The scheme focuses on the poor pregnant
woman with special dispensation for states
having low institutional delivery rates namely
the States of Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal,
Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh,
Chhattisgarh, Assam, Rajasthan, Orissa and
Jammu and Kashmir. While these states have
been named as Low Performing States (LPS),
the remaining states have been named as High
Performing States (HPS).\024
7. The table below gives details of the number of
beneficiaries under JSY (all these would have received the
Rs.500/- under NMBS irrespective of place of delivery) vis-a-
vis the annual targets set by the Government of India for
NMBS.
Percentage of Eligible Beneficiaries Covered Under NMBS
State/UT
No. of Women
eligible for
NMBS
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No. of
Beneficiaries
in 2006-07
Percentage
of Eligible
Beneficiari
es covered
Andhra Pradesh
296033
457000
154.4
Rajasthan
280123
387648
138.4
J & K
50494
57798
114.5
Assam
182894
183231
100.2
Orissa
264249
227204
86.0
Madhya Pradesh
472840
401184
84.8
Mizoram
4429
3330
75.2
Chattisgarh
148876
74778
50.2
Uttaranchal
37117
18614
50.1
West Bengal
425520
199000
46.8
Tamil Nadu
301676
136091
45.1
Karnataka
289339
81152
28.0
A & N Islands
2295
600
26.1
Kerala
107602
27683
25.7
Bihar
732891
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171352
23.4
Puducherry
6446
1315
20.4
Gujarat
212845
42373*
20.0
Punjab
41297
8276
20.0
Maharashtra
529777
97390
18.4
Tripura
20601
3203
15.5
Manipur
11112
1684
15.2
Goa
3188
483
15.1
Lakshadweep
333
42
12.6
Sikkim
4598
446
9.7
Meghalaya
22768
2031
8.9
Himachal Pradesh
29222
2508
8.6
Uttar Pradesh
1073341
71456
6.7
Haryana
92856
3294
3.5
D & N Haveli
3850
76
2.0
Chandigarh
2108
0
0.0
Delhi
42447
20
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0.0
Arunachal
Pradesh
10399
NR
NR
Daman & Diu
632
NR
NR
Jharkhand
208592
NR
NR
Nagaland
12763
NR
NR
Total-India
5925554
2618889
44.2
8. The scheme as the details above go to show has virtually
not taken off in many states. Delhi has given the benefit under
the NMBS to only 20 women in 2006-07, while in Chandigarh
the number of beneficiaries is 0. In Sikkim, Meghalaya,
Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Dadar &
Nagar Haveli less than even 10% of the eligible beneficiaries
have been covered under the NMBS. Except for the states of
Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Madhya
Pradesh, Assam, Orissa and Mizoram where more than 75% of
the eligible beneficiaries seem to have been reached out to, the
performance of this scheme has been very poor in all other
states.
Indicated below are percentage of Home delivery figures
State/UT
% Home delivery
reported out of JSY
beneficiaries (2006-
07)
% Home delivery in
the State (NFHS 3)
Assam
4.4
77
Madhya Pradesh
0.9
70
Haryana
0.0
61
Rajasthan
13.5
68
Manipur
0.0
51
Delhi
0.0
39
Meghalaya
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41.4
70
Orissa
33.3
61
Chattisgarh
59.2
84
Sikkim
44.8
51
Tamil Nadu
5.7
10
Bihar
75.9
78
Karnataka
37.6
33
Kerala
5.2
0
Mizoram
44.1
35
Tripura
60.5
51
Uttar Pradesh
90.2
78
Uttaranchal
96.9
64
Punjab
82.9
47
Maharashtra
86.0
34
Goa
67.9
7
9. In the States of Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Manipur and
Delhi there are almost no JSY beneficiaries who had a home
delivery. This indicates that in these States the scheme\022s focus
continues to be only on institutional deliveries and not all
deliveries. Even in the States of Assam, Rajasthan, Meghalaya,
Orissa and Chhattisgarh the JSY has been disproportionately
given to only those who have had institutional deliveries.
10. At this juncture, the financial performance needs to be
noted.
11. The Janani Suraksha Yojana is a centrally-sponsored
scheme with the centre providing 100% of the funds. Some
States e.g. Andhra Pradesh make their own contribution
thereby increasing the amount of cash assistance for
institutional deliveries. Tamil Nadu has introduced a separate
scheme for providing mothers with Rs.1000/- per month for
six months i.e. three months prior to the delivery and three
months after. Given below are the details of allocation and
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utilization of the funds provided by the Central Government.
12. Out of the funds provided for JSY for 2006-07, about
71.2% of the funds allocated have been utilized in the year
2006-07.
Utilization of funds allocated by JSY
Rs. In lakhs
Name of the
State/UTs
Funds released
in 2006-07
Expenditure
Reported by
States
% Utilization
Andaman &
Nicobar Island
10.00
1.99
19.9
Andhra Pradesh
4073.20
4550.00
111.7
Arunachal
Pradesh
26.20
0.31
1.2
Assam
1300.00
1331.32
102.4
Bihar
610.00
190.00
31.1
Chandigarh
5.23
0.00
0.0
Chattisgarh
513.00
516.55
100.7
D & N Haveli
9.17
0.73
8.0
Daman & Diu
5.23
0.00
0.0
Delhi
65.49
0.20
0.3
Goa
7.86
3.38
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43.0
Gujarat
851.85
185.56
21.8
Haryana
350.00
39.11
11.2
Himachal Pradesh
100.00
20.66
20.7
J & K
138.33
123.84
89.5
Jharkhand
392.89
64.67
16.5
Karnataka
916.00
594.02
64.8
Kerala
511.94
284.45
55.6
Lakshadweep
4.38
0.31
7.1
Madhya Pradesh
4261.00
2482.00
58.2
Maharashtra
785.79
209.07
26.6
Manipur
78.57
13.45
17.1
Meghalaya
39.29
42.75
108.8
Mizoram
78.57
37.27
47.4
Nagaland
65.49
0.00
0.0
Orissa
1600.00
1571.31
98.2
Pondicherry
19.64
6.10
31.1
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Punjab
145.37
56.84
39.1
Rajasthan
4085.00
3056.35
74.8
Sikkim
13.10
7.46
56.9
Tamil Nadu
1827.00
1441.00
78.9
Tripura
117.86
43.70
37.1
Uttar Pradesh
1375.00
436.80
31.8
Uttranchal
79.56
56.06
70.5
West Bengal
1678.99
1233.67
73.5
Total
26141.00
18600.93
71.2
13. Looking at the State-wise break-up it is seen that states
like Delhi, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, and union
territories of Chandigarh and Daman & Diu have not at all
utilized the funds allocated to them for the purpose of JSY.
Among other states, Manipur, Jharkhand and Haryana
utilized less than 20% of the funds released to them. Only 10
states spent more than 70% of the funds allocated to them
under JSY.
14. At the time of hearing of the applications, learned
counsel for the petitioner and the Union of India highlighted
various aspects. Considering the submissions and the material
data placed on record we direct as follows:-
(a) The Union of India and all the State
Governments and the Union Territories shall (i)
continue with the NMBS and (ii) ensure that
all BPL pregnant women get cash assistance 8-
12 weeks prior to the delivery.
(b) The amount shall be Rs.500/- per birth
irrespective of number of children and the age
of the woman.
(c) The Union of India, State Governments and
the Union Territories shall file affidavits within
8 weeks from today indicating the total
number of births in the State, number of
eligible BPL women who have received the
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benefits, number of BPL women who had
home/non-institutional deliveries and have
received the benefit, number of BPL women
who had institutional deliveries and have
received the benefit.
(d) The total number of resources allocated and
utilized for the period 2000-2006.
(e) All concerned Governments are directed to
regularly advertise the revised scheme so that
the intended beneficiaries can become aware of
the scheme.
(f) The Central Government shall ensure that the
money earmarked for the scheme is not
utilized for any other purpose. The mere
insistence on utilization certificate may not
yield the expected result.
(g) It shall be the duty of all the concerned to
ensure that the benefits of the scheme reach
the intended beneficiaries. In case it is noticed
that there is any diversion of the funds
allocated for the scheme, such stringent action
as is called for shall be taken against the
erring officials responsible for diversion of the
funds.
15. At this juncture it would be necessary to take note of
certain connected issues which have relevance. It seems from
the scheme that irrespective of number of children, the
beneficiaries are given the benefit. This in a way goes against
the concept of family planning which is intended to curb the
population growth. Further the age of the mother is a
relevant factor because women below a particular age are
prohibited from legally getting married. The Union of India
shall consider this aspect while considering the desirability of
the continuation of the scheme in the present form. After
considering the aforesaid aspects and if need be, necessary
amendments may be made.
16. The IAs are accordingly disposed of.