New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a response from the Centre and states, over a plea claiming cancellation of practically 4 crore ration playing cards on account of failure of linking them with the Aadhaar quantity.
The plea was filed by Koili Devi who’s the mom of an 11-year-old lady that allegedly died of hunger on September 28, 2017. The lady is alleged to have starved for 4 days as a result of her household was taken off the federal government’s welfare lists over failure to hyperlink their ration card with Aadhaar.
“Insistence on Aadhar and biometric authentication had led to the cancellation of nearly 4 crore ration cards in the country according to the Union of India. The Union of India casually gives an explanation that these cancelled cards were bogus,” the plea said.
ALSO READ | (*4*)’Coincidence That BJP Was In Power When Babri Demolished, Ram Mandir Foundation Laid’: Rajnath Singh
A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and comprising justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian stated: “The matter is too serious. We have to hear it.” The prime court docket added that it shouldn’t be handled as adversarial.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing the petitioner, said that the matter offers with a bigger problem. The bench responded saying that the aid sought may be very omnibus and widened the scope of the matter.
Gonsalves contended that over three crore ration playing cards have been cancelled on the central stage, and as many as 10 to fifteen lakh playing cards are cancelled on the stage of every state.Â
“The real reason is that the technological system based on iris identification, thumbprints, possession of Aadhar, functioning of the Internet in rural and remote areas etc. led to large scale cancellation of ration cards without notice to the family concerned,” the plea argued.
Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi, representing the central authorities, referred to as the plea as being misconceived, arguing that there was a grievance redressal mechanism beneath the Food Security Act.
If Aadhaar isn’t accessible alternate paperwork will be submitted. “We have clearly said Aadhaar or no Aadhaar, nobody will be denied right to food,” submitted Lekhi.
In an up to date standing report, the petitioner has termed centre’s response within the case as being “casual”. The court docket has issued a discover to the Centre and sought its response inside 4 weeks to the petition pending since 2018.
(With Agency Inputs)
Â
