New Delhi
Judicial activism versus judicial restraint played out in the Supreme Court on Wednesday with the NDA government pointing out to the court that many of its decisions adversely impacted governance, people and their livelihood.

Attorney General KK Venugopal said cancellation of 2G spectrum licences on the apex court’s order wiped out huge foreign investment; its order on liquor vends along highways caused financial loss to the exchequer and people lost livelihood.

“Not everything is negative, but the court should exercise restraint while dealing with PILs. India is facing a lot of problems… Like caste… (a veiled reference to the top court’s order diluting certain provisions of the SC/ST Act that led to protests and several deaths),” Venugopal told a Bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur during hearing of a PIL on the condition of jail inmates.

Justice Lokur who has been pulling up government agencies in various cases for lapses in dealing with issues of pollution, child rights and women’s rights said the court was trying to solve some of these problems.

“Through orders of this court, you have got thousands of crores in cases like mining, construction work. What more do we do? Rest assured that Article 21 is here to stay and we will uphold it,” he asserted.

The AG admitted that with the top court’s intervention, tremendous inroads had been made. He, however, noted that problems in India were “enormous”.

Justice Lokur said, “We have not, and we are not criticising the government for anything. Don’t carry the impression that we are preventing the government from doing anything or criticising you… But tell your officers to follow the law.”

It all started when the Bench, which included Justices Deepak Gupta and S Abdul Nazeer, proposed to set up a panel headed by a former SC judge to recommend measures on prison reforms.

The AG told the Bench that the court has been passing orders in individual PILs without realising the financial impact it had on other sectors. He went on to highlight some of these cases, inviting an asserting response from the Bench.

“The government is not using funds properly. Over Rs 30,000 crore was collected for the benefit of construction workers, but the money is spent on buying washing machines… They don’t have clothes, but washing machines are bought. Laptops are bought for illiterate people. The government is not using the funds that are lying with it properly,” the Bench said.