The Supreme Court said laws penalising people for having more than two children have lost relevance amid falling fertility, and referred its 2003 Javed ruling on panchayat disqualification to a larger bench.

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• On November 4, a bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe said laws that penalise having more than two children have lost their relevance.
• The ruling came on an appeal by Mangala Bhimrao Ingle, whose election as sarpanch of Kakoda gram panchayat in Maharashtra had been set aside for having more than two children.
• She had been disqualified under Section 14(1)(j-1) of the Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act, 1959, a two-child provision in force since September 13, 2000.
• The court set aside her disqualification and referred the validity of two-child disqualification laws for reconsideration by a larger bench.
• The reference concerns Javed v. State of Haryana (2003), where a three-judge bench upheld disqualification of people with more than two living children from panchayat posts under the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act, 1994.
• The court noted that India's total fertility rate has fallen from about 3.0 in 2003 to 1.9, below the replacement level of 2.1.
• It said the fear of overpopulation that underpinned such laws has weakened because of demographic change, warning of serious consequences if these shifts are ignored.
• The bench said such disqualification raises concerns about reproductive autonomy under Article 21 of the Constitution.
• Reports note the court also flagged the impact on women and on participation in local elections.
• The court traced the policy idea to the K. Karunakaran Committee, which had recommended disqualifying candidates with more than two children across elected offices.
• It asked the amicus curiae, advocate Rukmini Bobde, and the petitioner's counsel to compile a list of state laws barring candidates with more than two children.

Tags: TwoChildNorm, JavedVStateOfHaryana, ReproductiveAutonomy