Holding

The Court held that the Union of India and the State of Uttar Pradesh must implement a comprehensive rehabilitation plan for widows in Vrindavan, including the constitution of a Committee to prepare a common working plan, thereby upholding the petition.

Summary

The Environment and Consumer Protection Foundation filed a writ petition under Article 32 seeking directions for the Union of India and the State of Uttar Pradesh to rehabilitate widows living in Vrindavan, citing a newspaper article that highlighted their deplorable conditions. The Court noted that widows constitute a socially disadvantaged class whose right to life with dignity under Article 21 was being violated. It observed that numerous reports and studies had been generated by various agencies, and the Court directed that these should not go to waste. A Committee was constituted to examine all reports and formulate a common working plan within two months, with a deadline of 30 November 2017. The Committee was also instructed to consider the issue of widow remarriage. The Court issued comprehensive directions for data collection, counseling, legal aid, medical facilities, vocational training, and financial assistance, effectively ordering the implementation of a Swadhar Greh scheme for the widows. The petition was allowed and the respondents were directed to comply with the action plan.

Issues considered

The extent of the Union and State's duty to protect the right to life and dignity of widows under Article 21.
Whether a public interest litigation can compel the government to formulate and implement a rehabilitation scheme for widows.
The necessity of constituting a Committee to prepare a common working plan based on existing reports.
The consideration of widow remarriage as part of the rehabilitation measures.

Subjects

widow rehabilitationpublic interest litigationArticle 21social justiceVrindavanwidow remarriageSwadhar GrehNational Commission for Women

Judgment

[2017] 9 S.C.R. 453

ENVIRONMENT AND CONSUMER PROTECTION A
FOUNDATION
v.
UNION OF INDIA & ORS .
. (Writ Petition (Civil) No. ,.659 of2007) 8
AUGUST 11,2017
(MADAN B. LOKUR AND DEEPAK GUPTA, JJ.)
Women Welfare/Development - Writ petition for rehabilitation
of widows living in Vrindavan - On the basis of an article bringing C
out pathetic and shocking conditions of the widows living in
Vrindavan - Petition seeking directions to Union of India and the
State of Uttar Pradesh to take steps to rehabilitate the widows so
that they can live with dignity -'- Pursuant to orders passed by
Supreme Court from time to time, various reports filed by concerned
authorities like National Commission for Women. the Ministry of D
Women and Child Development and the State of Uttar Pradesh -
Held: Committee directed to be constituted by Supreme Court to
study all the reports filed and provide with a common working plan
based on the suggestions in the reports - Committee also requested
to consider the issue of widow remarriage - Constitution of India - E
Art. 21 - Public Interest Litigation (PJL) - Social Justice - Socially
underprivileged groups - Widows living in Vrindavan.
Public Interest Litigation ..;.. Advpntageri of- Discussed.·
Issuing directions; the Court
HELD: 1.1 There can be little or no doubt at all that widows F
in some parts of the country are socially deprived and to an extent
ostracized. Perhaps this is the reason why many ofthem choose
to come to Vriitdavan and other ashrams where, unfortunately,
they are iiot treated with the dignity they deserve. This is evident
from the article thal caused this public interest litigation and the G
compilation of reports that this litigation has generated. It is to
give voice to these hapless widows that it became necessary for
this Court to intervene as a part of its constitutional duty and for
reasons of social justice to issue appropriate directions. [Para
18)(475-B-C)
H
453
454 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2017] 9 S.C.R.

A 1.2 The effort put in by all concerned in the reports should
not go waste - it must be gainfully utilized, being in a sense a
gold mine of pragmatic and workable suggestions. Accordingly,
a Committee is constituted to study all the reports filed in this
Court and provide with a common working plan (based on the
suggestions in the reports~ within a period of two months and in
8
any case on or before 30 November, 2017. [Para 11](472-E-FJ

1.3 One of the issues adverted to during the hearing of the
petitions, but not mentioned in any of the reports, was the need
to encourage widow remarriage. This is a subject of hope that
C might enable our society to give up the stereotype view of widows.
The Committee is requested to consider this during its
deliberations. [Para 12](473-BJ
2.1 The advantage of public interest litigation is not only to
empower the economically weaker sections of society but also to
o empower those suffering from social disabilities that may not
necessarily be of their making. The widows of Vrindavan (and
indeed in other ashrams) quite clearly fall in this category of a
socially disadvantaged class of our society. [Para 15](474-A-BJ

2.2 The first phase of public interest litigation concernes
E itself primarily with the protection of the fundamental rights under
Article 21 of the Constitution of "the marginalized groups and
sections of the society who because of extreme poverty, illiteracy
and ignorance cannot approach this Court or the High Courts."
To this is added- the socially underprivileged groups. These are
the people who have no real access to justice and in that sense
F are voiceless, and these arc the people who need to be empowered
and whose cause needs to be championed by those who advocate
social justice for the disadvantaged. [Para 16](474-C-I>J
State of Uttarancha/ v. Ba/want Singh Chau/al (2010)
3 SCC 402 : [2010) 1 SCR 678; People'.\· Union for
G Democratic Rights v. Union ofIndia ( 1982) 3 SCC 235 :
(1983) l SCR 456 and Delhi Jal Board v. National
Campaign for Dignity & Rights of Sewerage & Allied
Workers (2011) 8 SCC 568: (2011) 12 SCR 34 - relied
on.
H
ENVIRONMENT AND CONSUMER PROTECTION 455
FOUNDATION v. UNION OF INDIA

· Case Law Reference A

[1983] 1 SCR 456 relied on Para 14

[2010] 1 SCR 678 relied on Para 16

[2011) 12 SCR 34 relied on Para 17 8

CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Writ Petition (Civil) No.
659of2007.
Under Article 32 of the Constitution oflndia.
WITH
c
W. P. (C) Nos. 168 and 133 of2012.
Ranjit Kumar, SG, Jugal Kishore Gilda, D. K. Singh, AAGs,
A. K. Panda, Sr. Adv,, Ravindra Bana, Rono Mohanty, Ms. Anitha
Shenoy, Ms. Srishti Agnihotri, Ms. Sneha Mukherjee. Ms. Jyoti D
Mendiratta, Nischal Kumar, Ms. Vimla Sinha, Vibhu Shanker Mishra,
Raj Bahadur Yadav, R.R. Rajesh. Ms. Sushma Suri, G. S. Makkar,
S. N. Terdal, Dr. S. K. Verma, Ms. Gargi Tuli,ArindamMukherjee, Ms.
Aparna Bhat, Ms. Joshita Pai, Gopal Singh, Shreyas Jain, Aniruddh P.
Mayee, C. Mahindrakar, A. Selvin Raja, A.M. Oza, Chirag Jain, E
D. S. Mahra, Varinder Kumar Sharma, Abraham C. Mathews, Nishe
Rajen Shanker, Mrs. Anu K. Joy. V.N. Raghupathy, Parikshit P. Angadi,
Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi, Nishant R. Katneswarkar, Ashok Kumar
. Singh, Ranjan Mukherjee, Pragyan Pradip Sharma. Shikhar Garg,
P.V. Yogeswaran, Mrs. K. Enatoli Sema, Edward Belho, Amit Kumar
Singh, K. Luikang Michael, Ms. Elix Gangmei, Z. H. Isaac Haiding, F
Ms. Aruna Mathur, Avneesh Arputham, Ms. Anuradha Arputham, Amit
Arora (For Mis Arputham Aruna & Co.), M. Yogesh Kanna, S. Nithya
Srinivasan, Ms. Maha Lakshmi, Partha Sarathi, Gopal Singh, Rituraj
Biswas, Adarsh Upadhyay, Anurag Kishore, Utkarsh Sharma,
Ms. Nandini Sen, Charichal Ganguly, K.V. Jagdishvaran, Mrs. G. Indira, G
V.G. Pragasam, S. Prabu Ramasubramanian, Sudarshan Singh Rawat,
Ad vs. for the appearing parties.

H
456 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2017] 9 S.C.R.

A The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
MADAN B. :LOKUR, J. 1. These petitions were filed and taken
up in public interest are intended to bring back some sunshine in the lives
of the widows in Vrindavan and in ashrams elsewhere in the country. It
is a pity that these widows have been so unfortunately dealt with, as if
B they have ceased to be entitled to live a life of dignity and as if they are
not entitled to the protection of Article 21 of the Constitution.
2. The petitioner, Environment and Consumer Protection
Foundation is a registered charitable society and a non-political body. It
filed a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution essentially for an
c appropriate writ requiring the Union of India and the State of Uttar
Pradesh to take all steps to rehabilitate the widows ofVrindavan so as
to bring them to a stage where they can live with dignity.
3. The petition was filed on the basis ofan article 'White Shadows
of Vrindavan' written by Atul STuthi and published in the New Delhi
D edition of the Times oflndia of25 March, 2007. The apparent intention
of the article was to report and bring to the notice of the public and the
government agencies the pathetic and shocking conditions ofthe widows
living in Vrindavan - begging in temples and then huddling together in
hovels. Broadly speaking, the article described the city ofVrindavan in
which abandoned widows live a hand to mouth existence like white
E shadows thus giving the city another name that is the City of Widows.
According to the author no one knows since when these widows have
been coming toVrindavan but most of them are from West Bengal and
their life stories often follow a similar pattern which is the death of the
husband, relatives leaving them in Vrindavan. days spent singing prayers
F and begging at temples where they live on a day to day basis. Most
widows refuse to go back to their village or home, even if they are given
a chance to do so, saying that now this is our home.
4. According to the author, the widows congregate in some
ashrams or temples where they sing bhajans and are paid about Rs. 18
G per day for about 7 to 8 hours of singing. The rest of their time is spent
begging on the streets. Many of them are too old to look after themselves
requiring others to pool in their resources to look after them. Overall, the
article paints a rather tragic and dismal picture of the living conditions of
the widows in Vrindavan.

H
ENVIRONMENT AND CONSUMER PROTECTION 457
FOUNDATION v. UNION OF INDIA [MADAN B. LOKUR, J.]

5. On reading the article. the petitioner addressed a letter to the A
District Magistrate in Mathura and brought to his notice its contents and
sought further information on what was stated therein. A reply was sent
to the petitioner to the effect that necessary steps were being taken to
improve the living condition of the widows. There was some
correspondence in this regard for a couple of months but to no real B
effect. It is this sequence of events that persuaded the petitioner to file
a petition in this Court with the prayer as aforesaid.
6. This Court took up the petition in publ~c interest and passed
certain significant directions; For example, on 14 November, 2008 the
National Commission for Women was directed to prepare a
comprehensive report on the problems faced by the widows. It was also C
directed that the report should contain the age groups of the widows,
their family background and all other information relevant for the purposes
of this case.
st
7. On I April, 2011 the Ministry of Women and Child Development
in the G1fi,vernment of India was imp leaded as one of the respondents D
and on 9 May. 2012 this Comt directed that in order to mitigate the
miseries of the widows, a Special Committee should be constituted to
undertake an exercise of identification and enumeration of the destitute
in Vrindavan - both those having shelter and those wandering in the
streets without any shelter. The Committee was required to collect E
complete data of the widows including the reason for their shifting to
Vrindavan and particulars about their family and their present source of
mcome.
8. Several other orders were passed from time to time more
particularly from 2015 onwards when the Social Justice Bench was F
constituted by the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India. As a result, a very
large number of reports were generated and concerned authorities like
the National Commission for Women, the Ministry of Women and Child
Development and the State ofUttar Pradesh began taking considerable
interest in the problems faced by the widows ofVrindavan. The reports
generated from time to time are as follows: G
l. Summary Report (undated) of the Situation Analysis of Widows
in Religious Places of West Bengal prepared by Jayaprakash
Institute of Social Change DD - 18/4/l, Salt Lake City,
Kolkata- 700 064. This is filed in W.P. No.133 of2012.
H
458 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2017] 9 S.C.R.

A 2. Status Report (undated) filed by National Legal Services
Authority, Delhi Legal Services Authority and by National
Commission for Women.
3. Study by the National Commission for Women in 2009-10 on
widows in Vrindavan.
B 4. Minutes of the Meeting held on I 01h May, 2011 by the
Secretary Ministry of Women and Child Development.
5. Repott filed by National Legal Services Authority dated
I 4'h July, 20 12. This is filed in W.P. No. 133 of 2012 on
26th July, 2012.
c
6. A Report dated I O'h September, 2012 on Measures taken for
compliance of Hl?n'ble Supreme Court Order dated
03-08-2012 And Few Ground Realities With Some Reforms
Immediately Required by Secretary District Legal Service
Authority, Addi. Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mathura. This is
D filed in W.P. No.133of2012.
7. Plight ofForesaken/Forlorn Women -Old and Widows Living
in Vrindavan & Radhakund, Mathura (U.P.) - A Survey
Report dated J0 1hNovember, 2012 by District Legal Services
Authority, Mathura. This is tiled in W.P. No.133 of2012.
E
8. Rep01t of the Member Secreta1y, National Legal Services
Authority dated l 4'h January, 2014 filed in W.P. No. 133 of
2012 on l 2'h September, 2014.
9. Report of the Secretaty, District Legal Services Authority at
Mathura dated 31" March, 2014.
F
I 0. Status Report filed by Ms. Renuka Kumar on I61hApril, 2015.
11. Minutes of the Meeting held by the Secretary, Ministry of
Women and Child Development on 2°ct September, 2015.
12. Status Report filed on ll th March, 2016 on behalfof State of
G Uttar Pradesh.
13. Report by Ms. Renuka Kumar dated l 91hApril, 20 l 6 on 17
homes administered by the U.P. Mahila Kalyan Nigam.

H
ENVIRONMENT AND CONSUMER PROTECTION 459
FOUNDATION v. UNION OF INDIA [MADAN B. LOKUR, J.]

14. Status Report dated 28'h April, 2016 by the National A
Commission for Women of28.04.2016 giving some preliminary
recommendations.
15. Status report along with budget requirement submitted by
.Ms. Renuka Kumar on 31" August, 2016.
16. Status Report on widows in Swadhar Homes in Uttar Pradesh, B
Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Odisha by the National
Commission for Women in November, 2016.
17. Report on the medical facilities for widows and destitute
women in Vrindavan submitted by Ms. Renuka Kumar on 8'h
November, 2016. C
18. Affidavit in compliance filed by the Ministry of Women and
Child Development on 2nd June, 2017 concerning order dated
2l"April,2017.
9. With the plethora of repotis and material available and with the D
generous assistance given and deep involvement of all learned counsel,
we found it more appropriate to request them to give us agreed directions
that could be issued to mitigate the discomfort of the widows ofVrindavan.
Accordingly, the following order was passed on 29'h March, 2017:
"Ms. Aparna Bhat, learned counsel appearing for the
E
National Commission for Women and Mr. A.K. Panda,
learned senior counsel appearing for the Ministry of Women
and Child Development assisted by Ms. Pushpa Bisht,
Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Women and Child
Development say that it will be appropriate if agreed
directions are formulated and issued so that immediate steps F
are taken to improve the conditions of widows in different
parts of the country.
Learned counsel for the parties say that either they or their
representatives will sit together and come out with a Iist of
agreed directions which may be passed by this Court on G
6'h April, 2017.''
I 0. Unfortunately, perhaps due to some misunderstanding or a
lack of effective communication, agreed directions could not be finalized
till l8'h July, 2017. On that date the learned Solicitor General handed
H
460 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2017) 9 S.C.R.

A over an Agreed Action Plan. The Agreed Action Plan with our comment
on some issues is given in the table below:
AGREED ACTION PLAN
Directions Action Plan of Our Comment
proposed by the the Ministry of
B National Women and
Commission for Child
Women Develonment
l. Create an The Ministry of The Aadhaar
· interactive data" Women and enabled software
base which would Child wi II, of course, be
c · provide access fur Development will subject to the
homes to Inpuf . develop .pending litigation
·. ', information as appropriate in this Court. ·
soon as a widow Aadhaar· enabled
enters their software for
system. The capturing data
D database must concerning
have a profile of inmates of
the widow to be Swadhar Greh
able to understand within next six
her needs [and months and, if
needs to be necessary, an
E updated] as soon external agency
as a widow enters will be engaged
the system .. The fur it. Access, to
portal can be the extent
created by the required, will be
government with provided to
F access given to different
registered homes stakeholders and
to provide their the agency
inputs. The entrusted with the
Government of development of
India has initiated the software will
G
such a programme be asked to build
for the purposes in adequate
of adoption. safeguards to
protect the
confidentiality of
H
the info1mation.
ENVIRONMENT AND CONSUMER PROTECTION 461
· FOUNDATION v. UNION OF INDIA [MADAN B. LOKUR, J.)

2. Widows with ,, Family counseling The fo II ow-up post A
fumilies must be centres v.ork:ing counselling should be
identified and under Central Social made clear and
their ramilies Welfare Board particularly in cases
must be (CSWB) and State \merethefamily.
counseled for Social Welfare does not take care of
taking care of Boards (SSWB) the widow even after B
them and in cases across the country being counselled.
where requiroo will be entrustoo with
· legal action, as the responsibility of
warranted, may identifying widows
be taken. who have families.
The progress of c
the work done will
.
be compiled by the
CSWB evety month
and a report sent
to the Ministry
every quarter, The D
CSWB will, in
consultation with
other stakeholders, be
asked to develop a
suitable module for
counseling families E
within a period of six
months and, -
thereafter, review and
update it as and when
required.
F

3. NALSAmust NALSA/DALSA will
create a be advised to provide
mechanism to legal aid to the
enable homes to inmates of Swadhar
access Iegal aid. Greh within l 5 days G
of the acceptance of
the plan of action by
the Hon 'ble Supreme
Court.
H
462 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2017] 9 S.C.R.

A
4. Public ~ctor The Ministl)' of The concerned Mini&ry
organizatiorn must Women and Child Siould be advised that
be encouraged to Development has the fund is intended to
contribute certain already taken up the assist and benefit
percentage of their matter with the destitute widows.
CSR funds for a Department of Public
B Widows Enterprises and
Management Fund Ministl)' of Corporate
which would be Affairs. The matter
~d for developing Siall be further pW'sued
vocational trainings with them.
for widows.
c 5. The govemmert In all States and Union The benefit of the
must actively Territories, medicines rupply offree
explore medical are provided free of medicines should be
insurances for all cost to the patierts made available to
widows and at least through the Common destitute women as
widows that are Health Centres and well. Availability of
D housed in the A:imary Health Certres free rredical u·eatment
Swadhar Homes so under tre National reeds consideration.
that good medical Health Mission of the
fucilities can be Ministl)' of Health &
accessed by the Family Welfure. It may,
widows. therefore, not be
necessary to introduce
E medical insurance as
s.1ch a measure coidd
take away a portion of
the income of widows
and impoverish them
further. The Ministry of
F Health & Family
Welfare has been
requesred to advise all
State Governments and
Union Tenitol)'
administrations to
ensure that access to
G
free medicines is
ensured to all those
&aying in Swadhar
Homes.

H
• ENVIRONMENT AND CONSUMER PROTECTION 463
FOUNDATION v. UNION OF INDIA [MADAN B. LOKUR, J.]

A
6. Homes must be TI1e Ministry of
linked to existing Skill Development
Government and
Programmes. Entrepreneurship
Homes must be has been requested 8
encouraged to to prepare a plan of
open more action for
avenues for development of
employing the skills of widows;
widows in the and orphan,
care and destitute and c
hospitality sector marginalized
than sticking to women through
tailoring etc. sectoral skill
which do nor development
provide councils. They
economically have also been D
viable requested to
employment to monitor the
the widows and progress in this
henoe compels regani at regular
them to stay in intervals. The
these homes. E
Ministry of Women
&Child
Development will
I
continue to engage
with the Ministry
of Skill F
Development and
Entrepreneurship to
ensure
development of
suit ab le modules
for skill G
development.

H
464 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2017) 9 S.C.R.

A 7. Staff of Swadhar The National Institute
Home must be of Public Cooperation
trained periodically and Child ~velopment
and should be (NIPCCD) under the
adequately and Ministry of Women &
appropriately, Chi Id Development is
compensated already mandated to
B
financially. provide training to dif:terent
stakeholders including the
staff of Swadhar Greh.
Depending upon training
needs assessment, the
CS WB can al so be
c entrusted with this
responsibility. Provision
has been made for
imparting induction training
and subsequent periodic
training on regular intervals
of time to the staff of
D Swadhar Greh.

8. Immediate action to In addition to the State Governments
be taken to improve Swadhar Greh Scheme should be encouraged
the infrastructure of being implemented through to adopt the model
the Homes and out the country, the planned by the
E fonds to maintain it. Ministry of Women & Ministry.
Chi Id Development has
commenced construction
of a new I000 bedded
Swadhar Greh at,
Vrindavan, Distt. Mathura.
lt has been designed to be
F old age friendly and will
have dormitories with
attached teilet and utility
balconies. The Swalhar
Greh will also have facility
for physiotherapy, open
theatre, vocational training,
G sola- PY, solar
water heating system,
multipurpose hall, etc.
TI1e expected date of
completion of this Swalhar
Greh is Janua-y, 2018.
H
ENVIRONMENT AND .CONSUMER PROTECTION 465
FOUNDATION v. UNION OF INDIA [MADAN B. LOKUR, J.]

.
A

PENSION

l. It was found· The comparison Pension, as a m:lfare
that the current between the measure might to be
allocation of amount of pension linked with the cost B
pension was either provided by the of living index and
inadequate or non- Government and should not be
existent. The the minimum arbitrarily fixed.
primruy concerns wages payable
that arose out of under various
the research oos government c
that the pension schemes is not fuir.
amounts were not While, pension is
linked to the cost paid as a welfure
of living. There measure without
was no rationai any services being
calculation for rendered by the D
the amount~ or beneficiary, ooges
the ceiling in the is the remuneration
number of for the selVices
beneficiaries that rendered by the
the pension could wage earner. If the
E
be given to in two were to be
any given State. equal, it will be a
Pension should be major disincentive
based on the Cost to able bodied
of Living Index person to do any
and hence it work F
should be.on
par with the
rrummum wage
of an unskilled
worker with
corresponding G
in crease as the
minimum wage
increases.

H
466 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2017] 9 S.C.R.

A

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONING OF SHELTERS

l. A Multi-optional User-fee> can be paid
model be employed by a person who is
8 for institutionalized earning. Swadhar
shelters. The shelters scheme caters to
can be built to cater women who are in
the requirement of the the abyss of poverty
user on the basis of a and payment of any
corresponding user- user-fee by them
c fee for an overnight would be beyond
shelter, a day shelter their means.
or a fulltime shelter. [However, woiking
women hostels will
be encouraged to be
D established by the
States and Union
Territories.]

2. Direct the integration The two schemes Social audits
of Swadhar Homes, Swadhar Homes and should be
E short stay home> and . Short Stay Homes conducted with
other similarly placed of the Ministry regard to
facility homes to of Women & Child implementation
facilitate a smoother Development have of the schemes.
implementation of the . already been merged -
policies directed for into the new
F widow rehabilitation. scheme namely
Swadhar Greh
w.e.f. 01.0l.2016.
This scheme is
-- implemented by the
State Government/
G UT Administration
with funding from
Govt. oflndia.

H
ENVIRONMENT AND CONSUMER PROTECTION 467
FOUNDATION v. UNION OF INDIA [MADAN B. LOKUR, J.]

3. Enhance the ceiling The proposal for A
limit of three years on enhancing the limit for
the women staying in staying in Swadhar
Swadhar Homes in Greh for women
order to effectively beneficiaries above 55
stabilize the lives of years of age is under
the inmates. consideration of the B
Government and a
decision in this regard
will be taken shortly.

4. Structural integration The Ministry of
of old age homes into Social Justice and
shelters; To this end, Empowerment has c
medical assessment of been requested to
Women b-etween the accommodate widows
age of 60 to 65 years from Swadhar Greh to
of age in the shelters Old Age Home on
.
be conducted on the attaining age of 60
basis of which the years. The required D
women can continue medical facilities will
to reside in the be tied up by agencies
shelters. concerned with the
local CHCs/PHCs.

HEALTH AND NUTRITION E

I. To integrate the As stated above, free
effurts of the medicines are provided
Rashtriya Swasthya by CHCs and PHCs to
Bima Yojana info the all patients under the
Swadhar Scheme. NHM of the Ministry F
of Health & Family
Linkage of homes that Welfare and the
house old women with Ministry has been
medical dispensaries requested to advise all
is recommended. State Governments
and Union Territory
administrations to G
ensure that access to
free medicines is
ensured to all those
staying in Swadhar
Homes.
H
468 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2017] 9 S.C.R.

A

2. Utilization of the Widow pension
Widow Pension is paid to
Scheme for individuals. In
procuring medical the light of the
8 facilities.·· availability of
medicines free of
cost, as stated
above, it may not
be necessary to
divert the pension
c amount for
.
purchase of
medicines.

D COVERAGE OF LEGAL FEES AND EXPENSES

I. NALSAand The inmates of
DALSAto Swadhar Greh
allocate will have access
appropriate to free legal aid
E
sanctions to cover provided by
the legal exjienses NALSNDALSA
of the widows and necessary
involved in legal advisory will be
matters, and the issued in this
F incidental regard.
expenses incurred
for commuting
and so on and so
forth.

G

H
ENVIRONMENT AND CONSUMER PROTECTION 469
FOUNDATION v. UNION OF INDIA [MADAN B. LOKUR, J.]

A
VOCATIONAL TRAINING
.
.
l. Mandatoiy and As stated above,
organized the Ministty of
vocational training Skill I B
of the women in Development and
the shelters to Entrepreneurship
imp art skill sets has been
necessary for an requested to
ordinary life and to prepare a plan
e.nable them to of action for c
earn a dignified development of
livelihood. skills of
widows and
I
orphan, destitute
' and marginalized
women through D
sectoral skill
development
councils. They
have also been
requested to
E
monitor the
progress in this
.,
regard at regular
intervals. The
Ministry of
Women & Child F
Development will
continue to
engage with the
Ministry of Skill
Development and
Entrepreneurship G
to ensure
development of
suitable modules.

H
470 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2017) 9 S.C.R.

A

GRANT OF SANCTIONS

I. Enhancement of The financial Thenonns
8 sanctions by the nonns of Swadhar should be
Ministiy to provide Greh Scheme have reviewed every
the concerned been revised w.e.f. six months.
agencies with a 01.01.2016 and
budget necessary for on further
the proper. examination, the
c functioning of the Department of
homes. Expenditure has
opined that these
Periodic and timely are adequate fur the
release of grants to time being.
facilitate the
D continuance and
sustenance of the
homes.

E
PERIODIC REVIEW OF THE HOMES
.

I. That the National The National
Commission for Commission for
Women be directed Women may take
to conduct a review appropriate action
F to study the existing for taking the
status of widows in proposed review to
the homes in our study the existing
country in the near status of widows in
future. homes.

G

H
ENVIRONMENT AND CONSUMER PROTECTION 471
FOUNDATION v. UNION OF INDIA [MADAN B. LOKUR, J.)

2. To this end, grants National The Ministry ought A
be sanctioned by the Commission for nott.o be stingy
Rural Ministry, Women may carry with funds-
Ministry of Social out their study out especially for a
Justice and of the existing good cause.
Empowerment and funds available
the Ministry of with them. B
Women and Additional funds if
Children fort he sought by them will
survey to be be made subject to
conducted by the availability of
NCW. funds.
c
3.. Mandate a periodic The Swadhar Greh
review of the homes Scheme has an
every five years iit inbuilt monitoring
the State and mechanism. The
District Level to monitoring of
conduct periodic Homes is D
inspections of the undertaken through
homes to ensure the a three tiered
proper structure viz.
implementation of District Level,
the schemes and the State Level and the
functioning of the Central Level. E
homes and the Swadhar Greh will
records monitored be sanctioned
by the DPO initially for a
(District Project period of five
Officer). years. After
.

implementation of .F
Annually for 3. the scheme for 5
years and then years, the Project
every 3 years. Sanctioning
Committee shall
decide on its
farther continuance G
or otherwise
depending on its
performance and
need
I
H
472 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2017] 9 S.C.R.

A

CREATION OF AWARENESS

1. To engage at 1ural The SW!rlhar Greh
an:! district levels to Scherre is being
B spread awareress of it1l>le1rented ~ the
the existence of the State Goverrunents.
scherres akin to 111e States/UTs wII
swadhar hemes an:! gererate a'Mll'eress
to imput knowledge about Swadhar Greh
of the rig)lts an:! dissemirnte
c exercisable by the infcrmati oo about
wcmen in similarly Swadhir Greh throug)l
pl a:ed s ituatiom. variCllls rrnci:s. As a
put of the scheme,
guici:lines have already
reen isstm by the
D Ministry ofWcrnen &
Child Develoixmnt.

11. It is also our opinion that the effort put in by all concerned in
the reports that we have adverted to above should not go waste - it
E must be gainfully utifized, being in a sense a gold mine of pragmatic and
workable suggestions. Accordingly, we constitute a Committee to study
all the reports filed in this Court and provide us with a common working
plan (based on the suggestions in the reports) within a period of two
months and in any case on or before 30th November, 2017. The
Committee shall consist of the following (the first two suggested by the
F learned Solicitor General on instructions from the Ministry of Women
and Child Development and the third by learned counsel for the National
Commission for Women):
I. Ms. Suneeta Dhar of NGO Jagori,
2. Ms. Meera Khanna of Guild for Service
G
3. Ms. Abha Singhal Joshi, Lawyer and activist
4. A nominee of HelpAge India, an NGO that has rendered
valuable assistance in this case.
5. A nominee ofSulabh International, an NGO that has rendered
valuable assistance in this case,
H
ENVIRONMENT AND CONSUMER PROTECTION 473
FOUNDATION v. UNION OF INDIA [MADAN B. LOKUR, J.]

6. Ms. Aparajita Singh, a lawyer practising in this Court to provide A
any assistance on legal issues.
12. One of the issues adverted to during the hearing of the petitions,
but not mentioned in any of the reports, is the need to encourage widow
remarriage. This is a subject of hope that might enable our society to
give up the stereotype view of widows. We request the Committee to B
consider this during its.deliberations. .
13. We request the National Commission for Women, in public
interest, to assist in providing some working space to the Committee.
We propose to adequately remunerate the Committee with an honorarium
that will be decided when the matter is next heard. 'I:he Registry will C
ensure that all the reports are made available to the members of the
Committee.
14. Why are the Action Plan and these directions necessary? We
seem to be forgetting the power of Public Interest Litigation and therefore
need to remind ourselves, from time to time, of its efficacy in providing D
social justice. Many years ago, this Court noted in People's Unio11/or
Democratic Rig/its v. Union of India 1 that
"Public in1erest litigation is brought before the court not for the
purpose of enforcing the right of one individual against another as
happens in the case of ordinary litigation, but it is intended to E
promote and vindicate public interest which demands that violations
of constitutional or legal rights of large numbers of people who
are poor, ignorant or in a socially or economically disadvantaged
position should not go unnoticed and unredressed. That would be
destructive of the rule of law which forms one of the essential
elements of public interest in any democratic form of Government." F
A little later in the judgment, it was said:
"Millions of persons belonging to the deprived and vulnerable
sections of humanity are looking to the courts for improving their
life conditions and making basic human rights meaningful for them. G
They have been crying for justice but their cries have so far been
in the wilderness. They have been suffering injustice silently with
the patience of a rock, without the strength even to shed any
tears."
1
(1982)3 sec 235
H
474 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2017] 9 S.C.R.

A 15. The advantage of public interest litigation is not only to
empower the economically weaker sections of society but also to
empower those suffering from social disabilities that may not necessarily
of their making. The widows ofVrindavan (and indeed in other ashrams)
quite clearly fall in this category of a socially disadvantaged class of our
society.
B
16. Placing empowerment in perspective. this Court noted in State
of Uttaranclzal v. Ba/want Singlt C/zaufaP that the first phase of public
interest litigation concerned itself with primarily with the protection of
the fundamental rights under Article 21 of the Constitution of "the
marginalized groups and ~ections of the society who because of extreme
C poverty, illiteracy and ignorance cannot approach this Court or the High
- Courts." We may add-the socially underprivileged groups. These are
the people who have no real access to justice and in that sense are
voiceless, and these are the people who need to be empowered and
whose cause needs to be championed by those who advocate social
D justice for the disadvantaged.
17. This recognition formed the basis of the decision of this Court
in Dellzi Jal Board v. National Campaign for Dignity & Rights of
Sewerage & Allied Workers' wherein providing succour to the deprived
sections of society was recognized as a "constitutional duty" of this
E Court. Referring to several judgments delivered by this Court, it was
observed:
"These judgments are a complete answer to the appellant's
objection to the maintainability of the writ petition filed by
Respondent 1. What the High Court has done by entertaining the
F writ petition and issuing directions for protection of the persons
employed to _do work relating to sewage operations is part of its
obligation to do justice to the disadvantaged and poor sections of
the society. We may add that the superior courts will be failing in
their constitutional duty if they decline to entertain petitions filed
by genuine social groups, NGOs and social workers for espousing
G the cause of those who are deprived of the basic rights available
to every human being, what to say of fundamental rights guaranteed
under the Constitution. It is the duty of the judicial constituent of
the State like its political and executive constituents to protect the
'<2010) 3 sec 402
3
H (20!1)8SCC568
ENVIRONMENT AND CONSUMER PROTECTION 475
FOUNDATION v. UNlON OF INDIA !MADAN B. LOKUR, J.]

rights of every citizen and every.indiv"1dual and ensure that everyone A
is able to live with dignity."
18. There can be little or no doubt at all that widows in some parts
of the country are socially deprived and to an extent ostracized. Perhaps
this is the reason why many of them choose to come to Vrindavan and
other ashrams where, unfortunately, they are.not treated with the dignity B
they deserve. This is evident from the article that caused this public
interest litigation and the compilation of reports that this litigation has
generated. It is to give voice these hapless widows that it became
ncces5al)' for this Court to intervene as a part of its constitutional duty
· and for reasons of social justice to issue appropriate directions~
c
19. We must express oilr gratitude IQ the petitioners, the Ministry
of Women and Child Development and the National Commission for
Women for the efforts put in and particularly to Ms. Renuka Kumar
who has been of great assistance to this Court through her reports.
'
20. With a view to follow-up on thef.greedAction Plan submitted D
by the learned Solicitor General, list thes~,matters on 9'" October, 2017.

Dim:.tions issued.

/

•.