HC agrees to hear PIL for population control in India

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a PIL seeking directions to the Centre to implement measures to control the country's rising population on the ground that it was the root cause behind rise in crimes, pollution and dearth of resources and jobs.

The petition was mentioned before a bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Brijesh Sethi which allowed it to be listed for hearing on Wednesday.

The plea by BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who is also a lawyer, has sought implementation of the recommendations for population control made by the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC) headed by Justice Venkatchaliah.

"The NCRWC, after making immense efforts for two years and elaborate discussion, had suggested addition of Article 47A in the Constitution and formulation of Population Control Law.

"Till now the Constitution has been amended 125 times, hundreds of new laws have been enacted, but population control law, utterly required for country, is not made, though it will curtail more than 50 per cent problems of India," the petition said.

It also sought an order from the court declaring that the Centre "may set two-child norm, as a criteria for government jobs, aids and subsidies, and, may withdraw statutory rights viz. right to vote, right to contest, right to property, right to free shelter, right to free legal aid", for not complying with it.

The plea claims that the population of India has "marched ahead" of China, as about 20 per cent the population does not have Aadhaar and therefore, is not accounted for, and there are also crores of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis living illegally in the country.

Upadhyay, in his plea, has also claimed that "population explosion is also the root cause of corruption", apart from being a contributory factor behind heinous crimes like rapes, domestic violence, etc.

He has also claimed that without population control, campaigns like clean India and save the girl child would not succeed.

He has claimed, in his petition, that by the time the government provides housing to the over two crore homeless persons, the numbers of such individuals would have risen to 10 crore.