Government won't resort to 'rob Peter to pay Paul' policy, AG tells SC | India News - Times of India

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NEW DELHI:

Attorney general

R Venkataramani told SC on Thursday that government would never adopt the Marxist egalitarian policy of 'rob Peter to pay Paul' in achieving the ideals of distributing community resources for the

common good

envisaged under Article 39(b) in

Directive Principles

of State Policy of the Constitution.

The law officer's statement echoed prima facie views of a nine-judge bench of CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices Hrishikesh Roy, B V Nagarathna, S Dhulia, J B Pardiwala, Manoj Misra, R Bindal, S C Sharma, and A G Masih, which Wednesday had said it would not go by Marxist interpretation of Article 39(b) to include

privately owned properties

as part of community resources.

The AG built on the SC's remark that in certain circumstances, community resources would include privately owned natural resources, such as forests, lakes and mines. He said the two phrases — 'community resources' and 'public good' — were intrinsically connected and no private property could be acquired through a law, seeking to advance the objectives of Article 39(b), unless it satisfied the 'distribution for common good' purpose.

"The overarching and underlying principle governing distribution is furtherance of common good. For the achievement of this objective, Constitution uses the generic word 'distribution'. Distribution has broad contours and cannot be limited to meaning only one method (eg auction). It envisages all such methods available for distribution/allocation of natural resources which ultimately subserve the 'common good'," he said.

Though opposed to retributive acquisition of private property for distribution to subserve the ethos of directive principles, the AG said, "Law should be used as an instrument of distributive justice to achieve a fair division of wealth among members of society based upon the principle 'from each according to his capacity, to each according to his needs'.

"Distributive justice comprehends more than achieving lessening of inequalities by differential taxation, giving debt relief or distribution of property owned by one to many who have none by imposing a ceiling on holdings, both agricultural and urban."