Despite Tall Claims, Large Section Of People Still Living Below Poverty Line: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Monday said that there are large sections of people still living below the poverty line despite various “other” claims being made.

A Bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna pointed out how the there were several cases of “absolute unemployment” in the country. Pointing to the Respondent, appearing in-person, the Court orally said,

“We can give you cases where there’s absolute unemployment. You know what our country is! Despite tall claims, there are large sections of our country which are living below the poverty line.”

The Court was considering a SLP challenging an order of the Karnataka High Court which ruled in favour of the Respondent while hearing a dispute which arose under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

At the start of the hearing, the Respondent pointed out the number of adjournments that the other side had sought even though the case was listed several times.

“Do you know that there are matters pending since 2001 and it has not been disposed of?”, the Bench stated while adding that his case cannot be given a priority when others are waiting “in a queue”.

The Court said that there was no point in inviting the Bench’s attention to this aspect today as Bharti Airtel Ltd (petitioner), the former employer of the Respondent had requested time.

The petitioner pointed out that he had been unemployed for several months now and his family is barely managing with just his wife’s income.

“There are cases and cases. There are many others who are unemployed like you whose conditions are far worse. You were a senior manager. We are talking about labourers. Now, they are ready to work for Rs 6,000. I can tell you cases of Anganawadi workers. I am coming from Kerala; the situation is unthinkable there!”, the Bench replied.

Ordinarily, if one succeeds in the Labour Court then the High Court should normally not interfere in the matter except in exceptional cases, the Court further observed. “Here, the Single bench and the Division Bench held in your favour. But we will have to go through it, they (petitioners) are challenging it.”

After the party-in-person requested, the Court agreed to hear the case on April 25 as the first item on board.

Case Title: Bharti Airtel Limited Versus A.S. Raghavendra | Slp(C) No. 13691/2022 Iv-