High Court Directs Delhi Govt To Review Pending Ration Card Applications For Allowance Payments

The counsel representing the Delhi government informed the High Court that there are about three lakh people currently on the waiting list for a ration card.

Under food security law, beneficiaries who do not have a ration card are entitled to receive a monetary allowance.

Source : Getty

The Delhi High Court has asked the AAP-led city government to conduct a survey of all pending ration card applications and find out if applicants were entitled to receive allowance under the food security law. Under food security law, beneficiaries who do not have a ration card are entitled to receive a monetary allowance. It is calculated on the basis of a formula that takes into account the minimum support price of foodgrains in a particular market season.

According to a PTI report, the counsel representing the Delhi government informed the High Court that there are about three lakh people currently on the waiting list for a ration card.

Justice Subramonium Prasad noted that as per Section 8 of the National Food Security Act, 2013, individuals eligible for a ration card are also entitled to receive the food security allowance provided by the state government. He directed the authorities to examine and determine if the petitioners fulfilled the criteria for receiving such entitlement.

"It is well settled that if a person comes to a Court and gets a declaration of law in his favour, it is expected that the State shall extend the benefit to all similarly placed persons without them having to approach the Court. The State Government is, therefore, directed to conduct the survey of all pending applications to see as to whether they would be entitled to receive the allowance under Section 8 of the Food Security Act," the court said in its recent order, as per the report. 

The court's directive came on a plea filed in 2020. The petitioners, Shabnam and Kanta, approached the high court stating that Delhi's ration card limit, as approved under the National Food Security Act, 2013, is 72,77,995, as per the report. However, out of this only 72,22,236 applicants had been approved so far and a large number of applications filed by those like the petitioners were pending.

The Delhi HC has asked the government to complete the exercise as soon as possible and file a status report on the matter before the next date of hearing on October 13.