The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it was a “serious matter” to cancel the three crore ration cards as it was not linked to the Aadhaar card and sought answers from the central government and all states.
Chief Justice (CJI) S.A. “This is a very serious matter and should not be seen as a case of protesters,” the bench of Justice Babe, Justice AC Bopanna and Justice V Ramasubramanian said.
At the beginning of the hearing, senior lawyer Colin Gonzalvis, who is appearing for petitioner Koily Devi, said the petition would take up a larger case.
The CJI said, “A similar case came up before me in the Bombay High Court. I think the matter should have been filed in the concerned High Court.”
Gonzalez argued that this was a major case because the center had canceled nearly three crore rations.
The bench said the case would be heard another day as Gonsalves said the central government had canceled rations. At the same time, Gonzalves made a false statement that the center had canceled rations, said Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi.
On this whole issue, the bench said, “We are looking for answers from the Center on ration card cancellation due to Aadhaar card.” This is not a protest lawsuit. We finally hear it. Notice has to be given within four weeks to reply.
Lekhi said the notice had already been issued in the case and was on the Center’s reply record. Gonzalvis said the notice was not on the main application, but on the alternative grievance redressal. “The main thing is to cancel three million rations and die of starvation,” he said.
On December 9, 2019, the Supreme Court sought an answer from all states on the death of people due to lack of ration supplies due to lack of valid Aadhaar card.
Devi has applied and her 11-year-old daughter Santoshi died of starvation on September 28, 2018 in Jharkhand. Santoshi’s sister Gudia Devi is the joint petitioner in the case.
The petition stated that the local authorities had canceled their ration cards because they were not linked to the Aadhaar card, which resulted in their family ceasing to receive rations since March 2007. The entire family was starving and, meanwhile, their daughter Santoshi died of lack of food.