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A Supreme Court bench of Justices Nageshwar Rao and B.R.Gavai was informed by Delhi Government on Tuesday that the the preparation for implementation of the scheme of GNCTD for door to door ration supply is in progress and the actual implementation will take some time.

The bench, while disposing off the plea by Centre against the interim order of Delhi High Court which permitted door to door delivery of rations and limiting the supply of rations to fair price shops requested the High Court to decide the case on November 22, 2021.

The Delhi High Court had on 27th September permitted the Delhi Government to limit supplying rations to fair price shops  to enable those who have chosen doorstep delivery over physical collection of ration. A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh had held so on the ground that “an overwhelming majority of people had opted to receive their ration through door step delivery.”

Tushar Mehra, Solicitor General, appearing for the centre submitted that the scheme by the Delhi government has all India repercussions. He submitted that the Food Security Act, 2013 lays down a specific mode for distribution and the scheme is agains the mode as laid down in the act. He argued that the Impugned order allows scheme to operate against the statute.

He submitted that the Delhi government is employing private agencies to deliver rations at the door step and they have not been given what to do in case nobody is available to receive the ration. He argued that according to Section 24 (2) (a) it shall be the duty of the States to take delivery from designated central depot and if the government assigns private agencies to do it, the scheme will go against the act.

The SG submitted that the central government has introduced one nation one ration card scheme which enables a family to to avail ration from 2 different locations and that this scheme of Delhi government will hinder this as it is not connected to the common server while appraising the court on how all fair price shops are connected to a common server.

Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Senior Advocate, appearing for the Delhi government submitted that the  scheme is optional and that the people willing to get their ration from fair price shops may opt out of the scheme by giving a missed call. He further told the Delhi Government has ensured that this scheme is compliant with One Nation One Ration Card Scheme and also ensures that it is electronically compliant.

Dr. Singhvi further told the court that over 95% of the ration card holders in Delhi have opted for the scheme and that while people are agreeable to it, it is only the owners of the fair price shops who are litigating against it. He said,  “If giants like amazon can deliver ration to door step, why can’t government do it? Liquor is being door delivered now.”

On hearing the arguments advanced by the parties, the court held that though they have heard SG and Dr. Manu Singhvi at length, they are not inclined to entertain the Special Leave Petition because the Writ Petition is pending before Delhi High Court.

Case title: Union of India Vs Government of NCT Delhi