Tamilnadu’s ruling DMK has moved the Supreme Court seeking to be impleaded as a respondent in an ongoing case in connection with “freebies”, saying that the scope of freebie is very wide and only a welfare scheme introduced by a state government cannot be judged to be classified as a freebie.
The DMK, in its application impleadment, said: “It is humbly submitted that the scope of a ‘freebie’ is very wide and there are a lot of aspects which are to be considered. Only a welfare scheme introduced by a state government cannot be judged to be classified as a freebie.”
It further added: “The ruling government at the Union giving tax holidays to foreign companies, waiver of bad loans of influential industrialists, granting crucial contracts to favoured conglomerates etc., also have to be considered and cannot be left untouched.”
It argued that the top court cannot have a restrictive approach for classifying any scheme or act by the Union/state legislature to be a “freebie” without considering the magnitude of resultant consequences and social welfare at both micro and macro level.
The plea submitted that a welfare scheme providing a free service is introduced with an intent to secure a social order and economic justice under Article 38 to minimise the inequalities in income, status, facilities and opportunities and in no imaginable reality, it could be construed as a “freebie”.