LAXMI MANDAL Vs. DEEN DAYAL HARINAGAR HOSPITAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Introduction These two petitions highlight the deficiencies in the implementation of a cluster of schemes, funded by the Government of India, which are meant to reduce infant and maternal mortality. The issues common to both petitions concern the systemic failure resulting in denial of benefits to two mothers below the poverty line (BPL) during their pregnancy and immediately thereafter, under the Janani Suraksha Yojana (,,JSY), the Integrated Child Development Scheme (,,ICDS), the National Maternity Benefit Scheme (,,NMBS), the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (,,AAY) and the National Family Benefit Scheme (,,NFBS). Although the interrelatedness of these schemes was recognised by the Supreme Court way back in an order dated 28th November 2001 in Writ Petition No.196 of 2001 (People's Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India) (hereafter the ,,PUCL Case), and thereafter periodically orders by way of mandamus have been issued to the Union of India and the individual states, much remains to be done on the ground, as these two cases reveal.

(2.) Although the chief protagonists in the two petitions are the two mothers and their babies, the petitions highlight the gaps in implementation that affect a large number of similarly placed women and children elsewhere in the country. The petitions reveal the unsatisfactory state of implementation of the schemes in the two ,,high performing states of Haryana and the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT of Delhi). These petitions are essentially about the protection and enforcement of the basic, fundamental and human right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution. These petitions focus on two inalienable survival rights that form part of the right to life: the right to health (which would include the right to access and receive a minimum standard of treatment and care in public health facilities) and in particular the reproductive rights of the mother. The other right which calls for immediate protection and enforcement in the context of the poor is the right to food. A brief synopsis of the Schemes The JSY

(3.) Before discussing the facts of the two cases, it is necessary to have a brief overview of the prevalent Schemes, both centrally and state sponsored, for reducing infant and maternal mortality, which in terms of many documented studies is acknowledged as being high in India.