Sushree Mohanty
The Supreme Court has sought response from Centre as well as other states on revocation of around three crore ration cards because of non-linking with Aadhaar card and called the step “too stringent”.
The bench presided by Chief Justice SA Bobde and comprising judges AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian said this matter should not be treated casually as it is a “serious matter” and posted the matter for final hearing.
Senior supporter Colin Gonsalves, representing the petitioner Koili Devi, said the plea concerns a bigger issue.
“We see the current issue and have managed this sort of issue in Bombay High Court. Therefore, we are of the opinion that this matter should be recorded under the concerned court,” stated SA Bobde.
The court further said that Mr Gonsalves has requested for an omnibus remedy and has expanded the scope of the matter.
Mr Gonsalves asserted that it is a significant issue as the Centre has revoked around three crore ration cards.
Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi refuted the contentions of Mr Gonsalves and said that the Centre has not cancelled any ration cards until now.
“We are seeking response from you (Centre) on the Aadhaar issue. This is not an adversarial case. We will hear the case in conclusion and the issue is returnable in a month,” the bench observed.
Mr Lekhi informed the court that notice has effectively been issued in the matter and Centre’s response has been produced on record.
Challenging the claims, Mr Gonsalves said the said notice has not been given on current issue but on an elective redressal complaint and said the significant matter is cancellation of the ration cards and death due to starvation passing.
In an order the apex court had looked for response from different states over the issue of deaths due to undernourishment and starvation due to revocation of the ration cards.
Further the bench said that it will hear the case in four weeks time and directed the concerned states to undertake the redressal steps enumerated under Sections 14, 15 and 16 of the National Food Security Act, 2013.
Previously, the Centre had affirmed that the deaths of the individuals were not because of starvation or undernourishment and stated that the people were not denied food due to absence of the Aadhaar card.
The said plea is documented by a woman named, Devi, whose 11-year-old girl, Santoshi, passed away due to starvation Santoshi’s sister Gudiya Devi is the joint applicant for the situation.
The plea claimed that Santoshi, who belonged to a poor Dalit family, died due to undernourishment as the concerned authorities had cancelled their ration cards since they neglected to link it with Aadhaar.
It further asserted that since the incident the family has not been receiving any ration and subsequently had been starving.
The plea emphasized on the day Santoshi died, her mother could only afford to serve tea with salt due to non availability of any other supplements, and adding that Santoshi succumbed to starvation thereafter.