NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Wednesday referred the constitutional validity of laws barring people with more than two children from contesting local body elections to a larger bench, observing that the declining fertility rate and changing demographic trends have eroded the rationale for such restrictions.
“We are of the strong opinion that the laws which penalise having more than two children have lost their relevance. The foundation of such laws, that is the fear of overpopulation, has crumbled due to demographic changes in the past few decades,” a bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe said.
The bench referred the issue to a larger bench to reconsider its 2003 judgement in Javed vs State of Haryana, which upheld the constitutional validity of the two-child norm under the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act, 1994.
The bench referred the issue to a larger bench to reconsider its 2003 judgement in Javed vs State of Haryana, which upheld the constitutional validity of the two-child norm under the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act, 1994.
“So even though India’s population is not yet declining, the total fertility rate falling below the replacement rate would soon result in demographics transitioning to an older population, with a declining share of the working population,” the bench said.
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