Delhi HC asks NCT govt to act against bogus BPL cardholders

The Delhi High Court today directed the city government to initiate proceedings against bogus Below Poverty Line card holders and obtaining the foodgrains under Antyodaya Anna Yojna scheme.

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the city government to initiate proceedings against bogus Below Poverty Line(BPL) card holders and obtaining the foodgrains under Antyodaya Anna Yojna(AAY) scheme.

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A Division Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Mishra and Justice Manmohan asked the Standing Counsel of Delhi government to initiate proceedings by August 18.

"The state government has the liberty to proceed against BPL cardholders who are not genuine," said the Bench on a PIL seeking a direction to government for allegedly not renewing the cards of some poor people.

The court's direction came after Najmi Waziri, the Standing Counsel, filed an affidavit and said the government was in the process of reviewing the genuineness of the card holders after it was found that a huge quantity of foodgrains have been alloted to more than 65,000 bogus cardholders.

Waziri also submitted that the government called the cardholders for their biometric identification but many of them failed to turn up and later it was found that they have given fake residential addresses.

The Bench was hearing a PIL filed by Jhuggi Jhopri Kalyan Vikas Sangh seeking a direction to the government for issuance of BPL cards to the poor and provide them the food material under the AAY scheme.

"Each and every person living in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, especially in slum clusters, should not be allowed to live without food and must get the benefit of AAY/BPL," the petitioner said in the PIL.