SC to TN: How much do poll freebies cost

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Concerned about the new trend of doling out freebies like laptops, mixies, grinders and colour TVs at the cost of state exchequer and even making their distribution part of poll promises in Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court on Friday sought details from the state government on the total spending on such items.

“The Tamil Nadu government is directed to produce relevant guidelines or circular on freebies,” a bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and B.S. Chauhan said while giving the state the liberty to transfer the pending petition on the issue from the Madras high court to the Supreme Court, filed against the new AIADMK government on its announ-cement to distribute laptops, mixies and grinders.

The top court was hearing a petition filed earlier in 2008 challenging the spending of the money by the previous DMK government on distribution of colour TVs.

The bench said if the government had not laid down any guidelines on spending of huge money on freebies, then the court would lay down the norms, which would provide monitoring of such spending by the comptroller and auditor general (CAG).

“Now the present government (of AIADMK) has also started issuing freebies. We will issue guidelines whether freebies can be issued for all or only to the below poverty line people,” the bench said.

The pending petition of 2008 against the DMK’s colour TV scheme was filed in the apex court by advocate Subramaniam Balaji, whose counsel Arvind Dattar said money could not be spent from exchequer in this manner without any policy decision.

And if it was spent, then there should be proper audit of it by the CAG.

Whether the role of CAG as “national watchdog” would be to prevent the “misuse” of government money in this manner it was being done, or it would come into the picture only after the money had been spent as other routine audit report, has to be determined in the guidelines, Dattar argued.