A Division Bench of the Madras High Court set aside a single judge's order of August 12, 2024, which had widened the Thalikku Thangam scheme to families earning up to ₹12,000 a month. The scheme, formally the 2011 Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar Memorial Marriage Assistance Scheme, gave gold for the marriage of young women from families earning below ₹6,000 a month.
- The Bench said raising the limit amounted to replacing one executive policy with another, which cannot be ordered under Article 226.
- No law requires linking benefits to the Minimum Wages Act, and the policy itself was not challenged.
- The scheme ended on August 2, 2022, and was restructured as the Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar Higher Education Assurance Scheme.
- The Court also flagged the heavy cost to the State from rising gold prices.