The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that the Right to Education is a classic example where the government has enacted a law but did not have the funds to build enough schools, PTI reported.

“You have created a right. Where are the schools?” a three-judge bench led by Justice UU Lalit with Justices SR Bhat and PS Narasimha told the Centre.

The bench made the observation while hearing a plea filed by a non-governmental organisation on the issue of the lack of protection officers and shelter homes in the country as promised under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence (DV) Act of 2005, according to The Hindu.

During the hearing, the court advised the Centre to keep financial aspects in mind before coming up with any scheme or idea.

Referring to the Right to Education, the court said that even when the infrastructure for schools is created, there is a lack of teachers and staff. It said when the court questioned the state over the issue, a budget constraint is cited, PTI reported.

“We would advise you [the government] and take it as unsolicited advice that whenever you come up with these kinds of schemes or ideas, always have the financial impact in mind,” the bench remarked. “Otherwise, all this becomes only lip-service.”

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing on behalf of the Centre, said that a lot of progress has happened in terms of building shelter homes to protect women from domestic abuse.

“There were a lot of parleys and consultations with all states,” Bhati told the Bench, according to PTI. “There was one conference held collectively with all states.”

To this, the court said that often new enactments are left to the states for implementation.

“The state’s resources may not match up to what you require,” the Bench said. “Without an assessment of the financial impact on the states, you create this [laws].”

It gave the Centre two weeks to file a status report on the issue. The next hearing on the case will be held on April 26.