Directions: Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow :
With Lok Sabha speaker Purno Sangma abolishing the discretionary quota for gas and telephone connections enjoyed by members of parliament last week, demands are being made for doing away with the same privilege for Union ministers.
Imposing a fine of Rs. 50 lakh on former petroleum minister Satish Sharma for arbitrarily allotting petrol pumps, the Supreme Court had said last year that absolute discretion was an anathema to the Constitution and advised the ‘judicious’ use of discretionary powers.
Citing the use of the so-called privileges as “prejudicial to public interest and a breach of trust”, HD Shourie of Common Cause has sought the prime minister’s intervention to “stop this practice of discretionary quota for ministers to present to the public an image of clean functioning of the government.”
In a letter written to the Cabinet Secretary, he has drawn the PM’s attention to the misuse of this privilege by more than a dozen ministers. In the railways, discretionary quota covers platform stalls, passes, tickets and berths on trains. In civil aviation and tourism, the largesse includes free international air tickets, out-of-turn seats and stalls in ITDC hotels.

Q:

What did the Supreme Court suggest ?

• 1
  not to use discretionary power
• 2
  not to allot petrol pump
• 3
  fair use of quota
• 4
  abolition of quota
• 5
  None of these