Bombay High Court: In a Public Interest Litigation (‘PIL’) filed by Prameya Welfare Foundation (‘Prameya Foundation’) seeking directions to the State for appropriate implementation of ‘Mukhyamantri-Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana’ Scheme (‘the Scheme’) for eligible women, a Division Bench of Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, CJ. and Amit Borkar, J., took note of the steps taken by the State in ensuring implementation of the Scheme and directed the State to take appropriate steps so that eligible women are able to seek benefit under the revised Scheme in case, any change or alteration of the Scheme required filling of fresh applications.
The present PIL was filed as many women had been facing problems in filling and uploading their applications since the introduction of the Scheme in June 2024.
In an affidavit filed by the Deputy Secretary of the department concerned, it was stated that adequate steps were taken to facilitate the eligible women to apply under the Scheme and that 11 agencies of different departments were entrusted with this task. Further, as per the affidavit, out of the 2.51 crore applications that were uploaded with the help of these 11 agencies, 2.43 Crore applications were found eligible, and around 90,000 were rejected.
The Court took note of a Government Resolution which authorised only the Anganwadi Sevika in Anganwadi Centers to accept applications under the Scheme instead of the 11 agencies since the number of applications had reduced. Prameya Foundation contended that new problems may arise while making and uploading fresh applications due to the revision of the Scheme.
While noting the steps taken by the State for appropriate implementation of the Scheme, the Court directed that in case any change or alteration required fresh applications to be filled by the eligible women, the State shall take appropriate steps to ensure that all eligible women are able to exercise their right of seeking benefit under the altered/ revised Scheme.
[Prameya Welfare Foundation v. State of Maharashtra, PILNo. 69 of 2024, decided on 02-01-2025]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the petitioner: Sumedha Rao and Rumana Bagdadi
For the respondent: Abhay L. Patki, Additional Government Pleader and Sheetal Malvankar, AGP
