Deepali Kalia-
On July 3rd, a two-judge bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni of the Bombay High Court while disposing of the PIL filed by Brijesh Aarya, asking for directions to the BMC to provide nutritious meals thrice a day, potable water, shelter and clean public toilets for homeless persons, beggars and poor people in the city stated that homeless people and beggars should also work for the country as everything cannot be supplied to them by the State.
“They (homeless persons) should also work for the country. Everyone is working. Everything cannot be provided by the state. You (petitioner) are just increasing the population of this section of society”, the High Court said.
It was further added by the Bench that if all the prayers sought in the petition are granted then it would be like an “invitation to people not to work”.
The Bench had passed these remarks while disposing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Brijesh Aarya, which sought directions to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to supply potable water, shelter, nutritious meals three times a day, clean public toilets to the homeless people, beggars and poor people in the city.
In response, BMC informed the Bench that all over Mumbai, food packets were being distributed with the aid of NGOs to the aforementioned people and sanitary napkins were also being provided to the women belonging to these particular sections.
The Bench accepted the submission by BMC and said no further directions needed to be given in order to increase the distribution.
On the issue of public toilets in the city charging a minimum amount for usage, the Court said, “We direct the state government to look if the homeless persons can use these toilets free of charge”.
It was also observed by the Bench that the petition didn’t provide with many important details such as who a homeless person is, the population of homeless persons in the city and so on.