New Delhi27 minutes ago
- copy link
The bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Manmohan was hearing the case related to providing free ration cards to migrant workers and unskilled laborers found eligible under the e-Shram portal.
On December 9, the Supreme Court made a strong comment on the distribution of free ration by the Central Government. The court said- For how long will such free ration be distributed. Why is the government not creating employment opportunities?
The Center told the court that 81 crore people are being given free or subsidized ration under the National Food Security Act 2013. This means only the taxpayer is left out, the bench told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre.
The bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Manmohan was hearing the case related to providing free ration cards to migrant workers and unskilled laborers found eligible under the e-Shram portal.
Know what is the whole matter This whole matter is related to ration card. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for an NGO, demanded that instructions should be issued to provide free ration to all migrant workers registered on the e-Shram portal.
Till now the bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah was hearing this case. The bench ordered on October 4 that “all such persons who are eligible (eligible for ration cards/food grains as per NFSA) and have been identified by the respective States/UTs, shall be issued ration cards before November 19.” Should go.
On November 26, the central government filed a reply saying that their responsibility is only to provide ration cards under the mandatory provision of the National Food Security Act, 2013. Therefore, they cannot provide ration cards in violation of the upper limit provided in the law.
The petitioner said – the figures are based on 2011 census. During the December 9 hearing, petitioner’s lawyer Bhushan said that if the census had been conducted in 2021, the number of migrant workers would have increased as the Center is currently relying on the 2011 census data.
The bench said, we should not create division between the Center and the states, otherwise it will be very difficult. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said that the scheme of free ration has been in place since the time of Covid. At that time this Court, in view of the distress faced by the migrant workers, had passed these orders more or less on a daily basis to provide relief to them. But the government is bound by the 2013 Act and cannot go beyond the statutory scheme. The next hearing on this case will be on January 8.
Also read this news related to Supreme Court…
Supreme Court’s notice to Center and EC on freebies: Petitioner’s demand – declare promise of free schemes as bribe
The matter related to free schemes before elections by political parties is also pending in the Supreme Court. The bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra has issued notice to the Central Government and the Election Commission. Shashank J Sridhar of Karnataka has sought to declare the promises of free schemes made by political parties during elections as bribes in the petition. Read the full news…