‘Atrocious, insulting for all women’: SC pulls up UP govt

The counsel for the Uttar Pradesh government said that the endeavour of the state was to protect the nazul lands

New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday gave the Uttar Pradesh government a rap on the knuckles for approving a peculiar regulation mandating that the wife of the district magistrate (DM) of Bulandshahr should serve as president of registered societies in the district, calling the norm “atrocious” and “humiliating for all women in the state”. Questioning the regulation, a bench of justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan slammed the odd requirement, questioning its relevance and practicality in today’s day and age.

“Be it the Red Cross Society or a child welfare society, everywhere wife of the officiating DM is the president. Why does this have to be done? It appears to us that the state is trying to monopolise everything,” the bench remarked.

It questioned the state government over the rationale behind making a person head a society not on leadership skills or community spirit, but rather by marital association. “What happens when the DM is a woman? The regulation seems to assume that a DM will always be man and the state approves of it,” the court wondered.

Where the DM does not have a wife, the court pointed out, the regulation gave the officer the authority to make any other woman the president. “We will write something harsh about it. It’s absolutely atrocious. How can you have something like this? And how can the state approve of it?” it asked.

Responding, the counsel for the Uttar Pradesh government said that the endeavour of the state was to protect the nazul lands (government land) given on lease to societies from getting grabbed for private interests. But the argument failed to cut the ice with the court.

“There will be hundreds of ways to protect the interest of the government in so far as nazul land is concerned. You can put strict conditions and can have a regular check. But to say that DM’s wife has to act as the president of a society to protect the interest of the state is not acceptable to us. You are nominating someone just because that person happens to be the wife of a DM,” the bench retorted.

Rejecting the idea of spousal proxy-presidents, the court put the state’s women and child development on notice, directing the state to submit an affidavit within two weeks to “justify propriety and legality of the impugned regulation”. Additional district magistrate (finance and revenue) of Bulandshahar Vivek Kumar Mishra said that the arrangement of appointing district magistrate’s wife as officiate presidents in societies exists since 1950. He said that its objective was to protect nazul land alloted to societies for work by the governor.

The officials of the society then filed a case against the verdict of deputy registrar ( societies) in Allahabad high court and lost.They appealed in a double bench of the high court, which was also rejected and thereafter the case was filed in the Supreme Court.

Women and Child Development department deputy director Punit Mishra said that the department had no regulation constituting such samitis anywhere in the state. He said, “The samiti might have been formed locally in Bulandshahr”. He said the department “was also not aware of the SC order”.

The bench was hearing a dispute relating to Bulandshahr’s Zila Mahila Samiti. Functioning since 1957, the Samiti was given nazul land by the district administration to work in the welfare of widows, orphans and other marginalised sections of women. While the original bye-laws required the wife of the officiating DM of Bulandshahr to act as the president, the Samiti tried to amend the bye-laws in 2022, making DM’s wife a “patron” to the society instead of its president. The deputy registrar, however, annulled the amendments on several grounds, which was challenged before the Allahabad high court. After the Samiti failed to persuade the high court, it came in appeal to the Supreme Court, which on Monday grappled with the absurdity of the regulation that had approval of the state government.

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