Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has handed the state government a partial win, exempting differently-abled brides from the interim stay it had earlier imposed on the Kalyana Lakshmi and Shaadi Mubarak marriage assistance schemes.
According to ABN, Justice NV Shravan Kumar, hearing interlocutory applications filed by MLAs seeking to be impleaded in the case, modified the court’s earlier order on Monday, August 23, to carve out Government Order 4, which provides additional financial assistance for the marriages of differently-abled women. The stay on disbursements to all other beneficiaries under the two schemes remains in place.
Government counsel told the bench that the 25 percent additional assistance extended to disabled brides, over and above what general beneficiaries receive, is grounded in the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act. The bench accepted the submission and ordered that payments to this category of beneficiaries continue.
The court also used the hearing to question the role political representatives play in disbursing welfare funds, asking why executive officials, who already handle beneficiary selection and eligibility verification, could not be entrusted with distribution. It reiterated that public money cannot be spent without solid legal or statutory backing, and said there should be no political interference in the process.
The High Court had stayed both schemes on August 12 while hearing a petition filed by advocate Vijay Gopal challenging their constitutional validity. Gopal contended that the schemes, run through a series of government orders, lacked legislative sanction and that spending from the Consolidated Fund of the state on their basis violated constitutional provisions. The state government had failed to file its counter-affidavit even after being directed to do so, prompting the interim stay.
Backward Classes Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar said afterwards that the government had no intention of scrapping the schemes and would move the division bench to have the stay vacated.
The High Court has now issued notices to the newly impleaded respondents and given the government two weeks to file complete details and counter-affidavits. The matter has been adjourned to September 7.
