Scope of judicial review in examining policy matters 'very limited': SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said that the scope of judicial review in examining the policy matters is very limited and "the courts do not and cannot examine the correctness, suitability, or appropriateness of a policy".

Declining to pass any directions for formulation of a scheme to implement the concept of Community Kitchens, a bench of Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal said that the courts cannot direct the state governments to implement a particular policy or scheme on the ground that a better, fairer or wiser alternative is available.

"When the NFSA (National Food Security Act) with a ‘right based approach’ for providing food and nutritional security, is in force and when other welfare schemes under the said Act have also been framed and implemented by the Union of India and the states to ensure access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices to people to live a life with dignity, we do not propose to give any further direction in that regard," said the bench in its order uploaded on Friday.

In their respective affidavits filed before the apex court, various state governments said that there were no deaths reported due to starvation or malnutrition.

Disposing of the petition, the top court said: "We have not examined whether the concept of Community Kitchens is a better or wiser alternative available to the states to achieve the object of NFSA, rather we would prefer to leave it open to the states/UTs to explore such alternative welfare schemes as may be permissible under the NFSA."

The Supreme Court that though the Constitution does not explicitly provide for Right to food, the fundamental Right to life enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution does include Right to live with human dignity and right to food and other basic necessities.

Earlier in October 2021, the Supreme Court had directed the Union government to come up with a 'Model Community Kitchens Scheme' agreeable to the states and Union Territories (UT). It had also asked all the state governments and UTs to attend the meeting to be organised by the Centre and cooperate with it in coming up with the said scheme, which can be made uniformly applicable across the country.