SWARAJ ABHIYAN - (IV) versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

Citation: [2016] 9 S.C.R. 331 · Decided: 13-05-2016 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: MADAN B. LOKUR · Disposal: Hearing Adjourned
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Judgment (excerpt)

[2016] 9 S.C.R. 331 
SWARAJ ABHIYAN - (IV) 
v. 
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. 
(Writ Petition (Civil) No. 857 of2015) 
MAY 13, 2016. 
[MADAN B. LOKUR AND N.V. RAMANA, JJ.] 
A 
B 
Public interest litigation - Issues as regards relief for crop 
loss, establishing fodder banks, crop loan re-structuring or 
restructuring bank loans - Prevailing drought or drought like 
C 
situation - Prayer that the relief or subsidy extremely low and only 
where crop Joss is 33% and above, relief subsidy to be adequate 
and to be given timely - Also sought effective management of the 
Fodder Banks in the drought affected areas and establishment of 
Fodder Banks where no such bank established; and deferment of 
arrears and restructuring of loans for the drought affected farmers 
D 
- Held: Quantum of monetary relief given to a farmer is a matter of 
policy - Issues regarding establishing fodder banks or restructuring 
bank loans is to be decided by expert, even then there is likely to be 
difference of opinion between the experts - In view thereof, there 
cannot be any judicially manageable standards for determining E 
issues of policy and it would be hazardous if not dangerous for the 
Court to venture into such areas in which the court lacks expertise 
- Implementation of the economic and fiscal policy or policy 
impacting on drought effected persons and its_ monitoring to be seen 
- In the process thereof, Union of India and State Governments to 
set up committees or ombudsmen to see the faithful implementation 
F 
of the polices - Issuance of direction to the concerned authorities 
in Union of India, State Governments and Reserve _Bank of India 
and other banks to religiously implement their policies - As regards, 
appointment of Court Commissioners to oversee the implementation 
of various directions issued, there is no need for now - Applying G 
theprinciple of continuing mandamus, petition ought not be disposed 
of but should be kept pending to ensure that the directions that 
have been given are complied with by the Government of India as 
well as the State Governments - Direction to Union of India to file 
a status report stating the action taken by the Government of India 
331 
H 
332 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2016] 9 S.C.R. 
A 
on the various directions - Doctrines/principles - Principle of 
continuing mandamus - Constitution of India - Art. 32. 
Constitution of India - Mandamus - Principle of continuing 
mandamus - Held: Is an integral part of our constitutional 
iurisprudence - Jn many public interest petitions, this Court has 
B 
continued to monitor the implementation of its orders and monitor 
the investigations into alleged offences where there has been some 
apparent resistance by the Government of India. 
c 
D 
E 
F 
Essar Steels Ltd. v. Union of India 2016 (4) SCALE 
267 : MANU/SC/043112016; Centre for Public Interest 
Litigation v. Union of India 2016 (3) SCALE 712 : 
MANU/SC/0372/2016; MP. Oil Extraction v. State of 
Madhya Pradesh (1997) 7 SCC 592 : 1997 (1) Suppl. 
SCR 671; Villianur Iyarkkai Padukappu Maiyam v. 
Union of India (2009) 7 SCC 561 : 2009 (9) SCR 225; 
Peerless General Finance and Investment Co. Ltd. v. 
Reserve Bank of India (1992) 2 SCC 343 : 1992 (1) 
SCR 406 - referred to. 
Case Law Reference 
2016 (4) SCALE 267 
referred to 
Para 22 
2016 (3) SCALE 712 
referred to 
Para 23 
1997 (1) Suppl. SCR 671 
referred to 
Para 23 
2009 (9) SCR 225 
referred to 
Para23 
.1992 (1) SCR 406 
referred to 
Para23 
CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Writ Petition (Civil) No. 
857 of2015. 
Under Article 32 of the Constitution oflndia. 
Prashant Bhushan, Roh it Kr. Singh, Govind Jee, 0. Kuttan, Advs., 
G for the Petitioner. 
P.S. Narasimha, Tushar Mehta, ASGs, Ajit Kumar Sinha, Sr. Adv., 
Anil Grover, Irshad Ahmad, AAGs, Mukul'Singh, Irhan George, Ajay 
Sharma, Sridhar Potaraju, B.K. Satija, Neeraj Kumar Sharma, Guntur 
Prabhakar, Ms. Prema Singh, Gopal Singh, Manish Kumar,A.P. Mayee, 
H Ms. Shashi Juneja, A. Selvin Raja, Ms. Hemantika Wahi, Kabir Hathi, 
' 
SWARAJ ABHIYAN - (IV) v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS. 
333 
Ms. Puja Singh, Ms. Noopur Singhal, Manan, Dr. Monika Gusain, Tapesh 
A 
Kumar Singh, Kumar Anurag Singh, Mohd. Waquas, Shashank Singh, 
V. N. Raghupathy, C. D. Singh, Ms.· Sylona Mahapatra, Udit Arora, 
Nishant R. Katneshwarkar, Sibo Sankar Mishra, Umakant Mishra, 
S. Udaya Kumar Sagar, Krishna Kumar Singh, Upendra Mishra, Vinay 
Garg, Advs., for the Respondents. 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
MADAN B. LO KUR
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