The Center had earlier said that the reports indicated that the deaths were not caused by starvation.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday termed the cancellation of around three crore ration cards by the Center as ‘very serious’ due to its link to the Aadhaar card and sought answers from the central government and all states on the issue.
Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V. The bench of Ramasubramaniam said that the matter should not be considered adverse as it is a very serious matter.
The bench said that the matter would be put up for final hearing. Initially, Senior Counsel Colin Gonsalves, appearing for petitioner Koily Devi, said that the petition relates to a larger issue.
The CJI said, “We look into the problem and I have dealt with such a case in the Bombay High Court and I feel that the matter should be filed before the High Court.”
The bench told Mr. Gonsalves that he had sought a very ubiquitous type of relief and broadened the scope of the case.
Mr. Gonsalves said with his arguments that this is an important issue as the Center has canceled about three crore ration cards.
The bench said that she would hear the matter on another day as Mr. Gonsalves said that the central government had canceled the ration cards.
Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi said that it is an incorrect statement given by Mr. Gonsalves that the Center has canceled the ration cards.
“We are asking you (Center) to respond because of the Aadhaar issue. This is not an adverse plea. We will hear it at the end. The bench said that notice should be issued in four weeks.
Mr. Lekhi said that notice had already been issued in the case and the Centre’s response was on record.
Mr. Gonsalves said that notices have been issued not on the main petition but on alternative grievance redressal.
“The issue is the cancellation of three crore ration cards and death by starvation”, Mr Gonsalves said.
On December 9, 2019, the apex court sought response from all the states to the starvation death allegations of those who were deprived of their ration supplies due to not having a valid Aadhaar card.
A four-week return notice was issued to the reactive states calling for steps taken by them for the implementation of the grievance redressal mechanism covered in Sections 14, 15 and 16 of the National Food Security Act, 2013. Permanent counsel for the state, ”the bench had said.
The Center had earlier said that the reports indicated that the deaths were not caused by starvation. “No one was denied food due to lack of a valid Aadhaar card,” he said.
A PIL has been filed on behalf of Devi, whose 11-year-old daughter Santoshi of Simdega district in Jharkhand died of starvation on September 28, 2018. Santoshi’s sister Gudiya Devi is the joint petitioner in the case.
The petition stated that Santoshi, who belonged to a poor Dalit family, died because his family’s ration card was canceled by the local authorities as they failed to link it to Aadhaar.
It said that later, the family stopped receiving rations from March 2017 and as a result, the whole family died of hunger.
Even on the day Santoshi died, his mother could only serve him some tea with salt – the family served the same thing in his kitchen, the petition states that Santoshi succumbed to hunger later that night.
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