new delhi the supreme court on wednesday queried the central government why it cant form a committee to examine the impact of freebies promised by political parties to induce voters and also the government can call for an allparty meeting to examine the issuea bench headed by chief justice nv ramana told the solicitor general tushar mehta representing the centre why cant the government of india constitute a committee to study the impact of freebies mehta replied that the centre will help in every way and statistics connected with the issue and other information can be placed before the top courtmehta said a line should be drawn where somebody should tell please do not do this the chief justice replied the question is who will head the committee justice ramana said if he were to contest the election he may not get even 10 votes as political parties matter more and not the individualssenior advocate vikas singh representing the petitioner submitted that a retired judge of the apex court like justice rm lodha should be the chairman of the committee to examine freebies issues the chief justice replied the person who retires or is going to retire has no value in this country singh said it is the personality of the person concerned which impactssenior advocate arvind datar representing the election commission of india questioned the definition of freebie and said if something is there in the manifesto can it be called a freebie datar said there is enough material available to judge the economic impact of freebiesthe bench also comprising justices hima kohli and ct ravikumar noted freebies etc can destroy the economy it has to be looked at and the court just cannot pass a mandamusthe chief justice said the government of india can call for an allparty meetingpointing at political parties seeking to intervene in the matter in court mehta said parties claim fundamental rights and what will the government do aap seeking to intervene in the matter claimed that it had the fundamental right to free speech under article 19 of the constitution which included the election speeches and promises for upliftment of the downtroddensingh submitted that the apex courts 2013 judgment in subramanian balaji vs government of tamil nadu needs to be reconsidered in this judgment the apex court had held that the promises made by political parties in the election manifesto would not amount to corrupt practices as per section 123 of the representation of people actafter hearing detailed arguments the top court adjourned the matter the top court was hearing a pil by advocate ashwini kumar upadhyay seeking directions to the centre and the election commission of india to take steps to regulate poll manifestos of political parties and also opposed the practice of political parties giving or promising freebies to induce voters during pollsin the previous hearing the top court had suggested constituting an expert panel comprising representatives from the central and state governments opposition political parties election commission of india finance