No one will be deprived of ration, govt tells Delhi HC

The Delhi government has told the Delhi high court that it will set up exclusive stores in different parts of the city for doorstep delivery of ration to ensure that those who are not at home can collect it at their convenience.

The government, which filed an affidavit that was filed in an ongoing challenge to its doorstep delivery of ration scheme, asserted that Delhi Consumer’s Cooperative Wholesale Store Ltd (DCCWS) will set up these exclusive Fair Price Shops (FPS) across various districts, and added that no one will be deprived of foodgrains even after the introduction of the doorstep ration delivery scheme.

The scheme has become another flashpoint between the BJP-led Union government and the AAP government in Delhi, with the former saying that the plan violates the provisions of National Food Security Act (NFSA) and will deprive migrants of foodgrains, and the latter pointing out that it will root out ration mafia and ensure that all beneficiaries get their ration.

“Beneficiaries who will choose doorstep delivery but miss it, or wish to collect the specified food articles (SFAs) on their own will be able to get it from the circle-level FPS. Beneficiaries who do not opt home delivery will continue to get their ration from the current FPS. Therefore, it is a misconception that the GNCTD (Delhi government) is seeking to do away with FPS,” the Delhi government said in the affidavit filed on November 18 before a bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh.

The Delhi government is contesting a petition by the Delhi Sarkari Ration Dealers Sangh, a group of FPS owners, in which they have challenged the doorstep ration delivery scheme and demanded that it should be declared ultra vires (beyond one’s legal power or authority).

The state government has said that the petitioner association’s contention is “entirely mischievous”. It has also said that not a single beneficiary has questioned the mode and manner of implementation of the scheme, and an overwhelming majority of the ration beneficiaries in Delhi have opted to receive foodgrains at their doorstep.

On Monday, the Centre reiterated before the court that the state cannot mitigate the architecture of ration delivery mandated under NFSA. Additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati argued that FPS forms an integral part of the food security act.

“If the state wants, it is free to give benefit higher than NFSA, but they cannot mitigate or militate the architecture of the Act,” Bhati told the court on Monday.

She added that while the Act mandates obligations of both the central as well as state government, it is the state government which is responsible for the execution (of the provisions of the Act) under by the law.

“We have no role in the selection of fair price shop owners. It is not that the system is placed by us and the state is prejudiced. It is chosen by the state government,” Bhati argued.

The arguments will continue on November 29.

The Delhi government’s doorstep delivery of ration scheme was launched on March 25, but the Union food and consumer affairs ministry wrote to the Delhi government on March 19 raising two objections — the use of the term “mukhyamantri (chief minister)” for a scheme involving the distribution of food grains allocated under NFSA, and that any change in the delivery mechanism requires an amendment in NSFA that can be done only by Parliament. The term “mukhyamantri” was later dropped from the scheme’s name.

On November 15, the Supreme Court declined to entertain two separate petitions (one by the Centre and another by FPS owners) against a Delhi high court interim order on September 27 that allowed the AAP government to stop supplying foodgrain to fixed price shops for patrons who have chosen doorstep delivery over physical collection of ration.The high court verdict also effectively gave a go-ahead to the state government scheme.

The apex court said since the high court verdict was interim, and the court was still seized of the matter, it would not like to entertain the plea.

After the Delhi cabinet dropped “mukhyamantri” from the name of scheme, the government sent the file back to LG in June, contending that its provisions are in accordance with the NFS Act, and that it will simultaneously implement the Centre’s “One Nation, One Ration Card” scheme.

On October 5, after the high court’s interim order, the government sent the file again to the LG’s office. In a note on the file, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said he sincerely hoped that Baijal will review his decision to stop implementation of the doorstep delivery scheme, so that the orders of the high court can be implemented and doorstep delivery of ration can be processed for the beneficiaries opting it.

“People are asking if pizza, burger, smartphone and clothes can be home delivered then why cannot the poor citizens of Delhi get their share of ration home delivered,” Kejriwal wrote in the note.

Nearly 7.2 million people in Delhi are eligible for subsidised food, including 1.7 million ration card holders and nearly 3 million priority households, besides other food insecure categories identified by the Delhi government.