T. GOVINDARAJ Vs. PRINCIPAL SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT, CHENNAI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Clothes make the man, which in Tamil can be said @Ms; ghjp Mil ghjp@/ Though it is said no one can judge a book by its cover, still people will judge others, according to the way they dress. History of clothing in the India can be traced to the Indus Valley Civilization or earlier and people of that period know weaving. The Ancient Kings have great respect for Artisans, which list includes Weavers. The condition of the Weavers in recent years speaks volumes. Understanding the difficulties of a set of Weavers, the Tamil Nadu Government introduced a scheme in the year 1983 called "Supply of Cost-free Sarees and Dhoties to the Poor People" (hereinafter referred to as "the Scheme") living in the State during Pongal Festival every year. The twin objects of the Scheme are to provide continuous employment and income to the Hand-loom Weavers (and subsequently, Power-loom Weavers also) and to supply free clothes to the poor public in the State. The said Scheme is being continued till date and it is one of the pioneer schemes of the State Government. Similarly, the school going children have been provided with cost-free uniforms by the State Government. The petitioner questioned the quality of raw materials supplied to the production of those clothes supplied for the scheme and sought a direction to the first respondent to a Monitoring Committee consisting of high level officials of the Hand Loom Department along with qualified experts in the field of Textile Technology, as has been requested in his representation dated 17.09.2020 made to the respondents.

(2.) The case of the petitioner, in a nutshell, is as follows :

(3.) The second respondent filed a counter-affidavit dated 20.11.2020 resisting the prayer. It is submitted that the object of the scheme of cost-free distribution of sarees and dhoties to the poor people during Pongal Festival every year was commenced in the year 1983 to provide continuous employment and income to the hand-loom Weavers, which provides continuous employment to around 13000 hand-loom Weavers and 54000 power-loom Weavers, who are all members of the Co-operative Societies. G.O.Ms.No.54, Handloom, Handicrafts, Textile and Khadi Department, dated 24.06.2020 was issued to continue the Scheme for Pongal, 2021 and 399 Co-operative Societies were given orders for the said work in order to implement the Scheme. A part of yarn supply is made by the Co-operative Spinning Mills and the remaining is purchased through open tender from private players.