'Must be cautious': Pinnacle court pulls up Telangana over Nineteen lakh cancelled ration cards

28-04-2022

The petitioner contended that the cards were cancelled on the idea of a computer algorithm.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday, April 27, questioned the Telangana government for cancelling over 19 lakh ration cards and asked it to undertake physical verification of ration cards, which were cancelled on the premise of a computer algorithm. 

A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai said, "We direct the state of Telangana to conduct verification of all the ration cards cancelled pursuant to the directive issued by the Union government in 2016."

It noted that 17 parameters were taken under consideration before cancellation and sought reply from the Chief Secretary explaining how these cards were cancelled, which deprived the people of their right to own free ration.

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing the petitioner, contended the ration cards were cancelled without giving a chance to the people. 

He added those whose ration cards were cancelled, they'd to use for fresh cards. The bench directed the authorities to conduct field verification of all the cards and also house representation of any aggrieved card holder expeditiously.

Gonsalves contended that the cards were cancelled on the premise of computer algorithm including wrong entry of Aadhaar card, which violates the K. Puttaswamy judgement. 

The top court was also informed that individuals were denied food grains, despite the Union government saying that Aadhaar card isn't mandatory for it. The bench said the state should are more cautious before cancelling the cards.

The top court made these observations while hearing a plea filed by social activist SQ Masood, challenging an order by the Telangana state supreme court, which refused to entertain his Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against the cancellation of ration cards.