The Supreme Court on Wednesday criticised the practice of political parties announcing “freebies” ahead of elections, asking if this was “creating a class of parasites”, The Indian Express reported.

“Unfortunately, because of these freebies... the people are not willing to work,” PTI quoted Justice BR Gavai as saying. “They are getting free rations. They are getting amount without doing any work.”

“Freebies” is a term frequently used by critics of certain welfare benefits such as subsidised or free foodgrains, public transport and concessions in electricity bills.

Gavai, along with Justice Augustine George Masih, was on Wednesday hearing a public interest litigation petition about the right to shelter for homeless persons in cities.

“We quite appreciate your concern for them but would it not be better to make them a part of the mainstream of society and permit them to contribute to the development of the nation?” the court asked.

During the hearing, Advocate Prashant Bhushan said that some shelters for homeless persons in Delhi had been removed for the purposes of “beautification”, The Indian Express reported.

However, the court said that the counsel for the Delhi government had submitted that the shelters were dilapidated.

Gavai then referred to an affidavit that listed the facilities to be provided at such shelters and remarked: “So, rather than promoting them to be a part of the mainstream of society by contributing to the development of the nation, are we not creating a class of parasites?”

The petitioner, ER Kumar, claimed that the Union government had stopped funding a scheme for constructing shelters for homeless persons, which forced them to live on the streets, Live Law reported.

However, Attorney General R Venkataramani said that the Union government’s New Mission on Urban Poverty Alleviation would tackle a range of problems linked to poverty, including setting up shelters for homeless persons in urban areas.

Venkataramani also claimed that as per the data with the Union government, states and Union Territories had funds to set up such shelters.

The court told Venkataramani to verify whether the data cited by the petitioner about the number of homeless persons and shelters in each state was accurate. It also told him to inform the court as to when the new urban poverty alleviation scheme would be implemented.

In August 2022, the court referred another petition seeking restrictions on freebies by political parties to a three-judge bench.

The petition was filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ashwini Upadhyay, seeking directions to the Election Commission to bar political parties from promising certain social welfare benefits that he described as freebies.

While hearing the matter, the court had suggested the formation of an expert body comprising stakeholders from the government, the NITI Aayog, the Finance Commission, the Law Commission, the Election Commission, the Reserve Bank of India and members of the Opposition to provide suggestions on the matter.

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