Supreme Court sets last deadline to give ration cards to migrant workers

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday gave states and union territories six weeks to provide migrant workers with ration cards and directed that the top official concerned of the states should ensure that they comply with this deadline or appear in person before the top court on the next date of hearing.

The court will take up the case on November 19.

The stern order was passed after the court was informed that despite extending the deadline on several occasions for states and UTs to provide ration cards to migrant workers registered on e-Shram portal, most states were still in the process of verifying the identities and those identified had not been issued ration cards.

“How long does it take for issuing ration cards. We are giving you one last window to comply with our order or your secretary will remain present,” said the bench of justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah.

“We have lost our patience. Our interest is to see that ration is provided to the poor. We are making it very clear that there will no further indulgence in this regard,” the bench said.

In its order, the court said: “Such states where identification is done and ration card is not issued shall file affidavit before this court giving reasons why it is not done in the presence of the concerned secretary.”

Additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati appearing for Centre said accountability has to be fixed on states as they have to conduct verification before identifying eligible persons. She said, “Showing Centre in bad light is not correct. If states ask us, we will provide it forthwith after working out any anomalies.”

The court asked Centre, “Is this the seriousness you have in a matter that concerns the plight of the poor people or is the issue not important for you.”

Turning to the states, the court said: “Those who have been issued ration cards should be provided with ration (foodgrains) based on allocation and distribution...In case you fail to do it by the next date, the secretary (Labour or Food and Civil Supplies) or whichever is the department concerned will be present and explain why ration cards have not been issued to eligible persons.”

The order of the court was passed on a suo motu petition on “Problems and Miseries of Migrant Workers” where responses received from states showed a huge gap between the number of registered workers on e-Shram, the verification done by states and actual number of ration card holders.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan who represented a group of civil society members who filed an application to ensure all registered migrant workers get ration cards pointed out that in April last year, the top court directed all states/UTs to ensure all workers registered on the union labour ministry’s portal are provided with ration cards. The top court followed up with two more orders this year but the states continue to delay its implementation, denying foodgrains to the needy.

Bhushan pointed out that in Jharkhand, the process of verification was pending for 2.90 lakh workers. He said that across the country, 25 lakh additional ration cards have been issued but they have not been supplied with foodgrains. Even Karnataka claimed that about 1.31 lakh workers remain to be issued cards.

States such as Andhra Pradesh requested for more time claiming that out of 1.25 lakh eligible persons identified in the state, only 14,683 persons remain to be issued cards. Some states such as Odisha informed the court that all 3.5 lakh identified workers have been given ration cards.

Bhushan told the court that on July 16, a similar order was passed by the court directing all states and UTs to complete this exercise within four weeks and no further time should be given.

“At least for those eligible persons entitled for ration cards, let them issue it by the next date or their secretary will be present. If they comply, they need not be here. We also do not want them to be present,” the court remarked.

As per the figures submitted earlier by Centre, of the 288 million labourers registered on the portal, nearly 80 million do not have ration cards. On April 20 last year, the court gave three months to the states/UTs concerned to issue ration cards to all workers registered on e-Shram and to enable them get benefit of welfare schemes including subsidised foodgrains.

Bhushan had submitted to the court that the National Food Security Act (NFSA) provides a ceiling on ration cards of 75% in rural and 50% in urban areas, which has already been exhausted by the states. These limits are defined in section 3 of NFSA. Further, it was pointed out that the NFSA coverage is still based on the 2011 census and not the 2021 data which has led to exclusion of more than 10 crore people from the purview of the food security net.

In its earlier orders, the court had emphasised that the distribution of foodgrains should be irrespective of the statutory ceiling under NFSA. Last month, several states informed the court that they have exhausted the NFSA quota and sought Centre’s help for providing additional foodgrains to cater to the additional ration card holders registered on e-Shram. These states included Karnataka, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Punjab.

However, the Centre has maintained that states and UTs should be directed to distribute foodgrains from their own resources by procuring supplies through the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS). In addition, the Centre said that the states should conduct the exercise of excluding ineligible and including eligible beneficiaries which they are duty bound to do under NFSA.