SC dismisses plea to make two-child policy mandatory

A PIL said the government should promote family planning and adopt all such measures to motivate people to follow the two-child policy.

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea for issuing directions to the Centre to ensure strict population control measures by making two-child policy mandatory across the country.

The Supreme Court refused to entertain the plea seeking Centre’s direction to make two-child policy mandatory by saying that “it us a policy matter” and the court thus cannot intervene. (Reuters File Photo)

The court refused to entertain the plea by saying that “it us a policy matter” and the court thus cannot intervene.

“It is for Parliament to decide the issue and not the court.”

The PIL said the government should promote family planning and adopt all such measures to motivate people to follow the two-child policy.

The petitions, filed by advocates Anuj Saxena, Prithvi Raj Chauhan and Priya Sharma, said the statistics relating to population growth in India indicate that by 2022, its population is likely to pass the 1.5-billion mark.

The plea said the population explosion, over a period of time, can lead to a “civil war-like situation” and thus needs to be curbed.

The petitioner sought a direction to the central government to formulate policies to encourage and/or reward families adhering to the two-child policy and punish the erring couples appropriately.

The PILs claimed that since India has the youngest workforce in the world and due to this extreme population explosion, the youth are driven towards unemployment.