Relief kits, food being provided irrespective of ration card status, Delhi tells HC

The Delhi government, in response to a plea, informed the high court that it is not discriminating between ration card holders and people without cards for providing

The Delhi government, in response to a plea, informed the high court that it is not discriminating between ration card holders and people without cards for providing relief kits and foodgrains during the Covid-19 lockdown.

HT Image

A bench of chief justice D N Patel and justice Prateek Jalan, noting that several steps have been taken by the Delhi government to provide foodgrain and cooked food to the public at large, disposed of a plea by an NGO seeking directions to the authorities to provide help to all residents.

The court said that no further directions were required to be passed at this stage. The bench said: “We expect from the respondents (Delhi government) that the schemes floated by them shall be scrupulously followed for the welfare of the public at large and may continue even after the lockdown period is over.”

Nayee Soch Society, a non-governmental organisation, had filed the plea asking the court to direct authorities to provide same level of relief measures — coronavirus relief kit, foodgrain and food relief — to ration card holders and those without one, who could produce Aadhaar card and voter cards.

The order, passed on Tuesday, was uploaded to the high court website on Wednesday.

The court noted the submissions of the additional solicitor general (ASG), Sanjay Jain, and the Delhi government’s additional standing counsel, Anuj Aggarwal, who submitted that hunger relief centres are providing cooked food free of charge to all, irrespective of their ration card status.

It also noted that a number of schemes have been floated by the central government and Delhi government, and that care has been taken by the authorities to provide foodgrains and cooked food to all residents.