Rations must be provided to all: Delhi HC on plea filed by Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyaan

The petition filed by the Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyaan regarding ensuring access to rations during the COVID-19 lockdown was heard in Delhi High Court on Thursday by a bench comprising Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad.

The judges examined the status of compliance with the directions given previously in the matter. The Delhi HC had on April 27 directed the Delhi government to ensure that food grains are distributed to all poor, needy and marginalized residents of Delhi, irrespective of whether they have ration cards.

Taking cognisance of DRRAA’s submission that the system adopted by the Delhi government of issuing e-coupons to those who do not have ration cards was inaccessible to the most vulnerable as it required a smart phone, ability to use the internet, generate OTP, upload photos of the family and a copy of the Aadhaar and finally to download the e-coupon, the Delhi HC expressed concern that in the absence of proper facilitation, the poor and marginalised would be excluded from the system.

The judges directed that within 5 working days, the Delhi government must put up help desks with a computer at all 580 centres through which rations are distributed through e-coupons to act as a one stop centre for applying for e-coupons. They directed that all the requirements including uploading of photo, documents etc. should be completed there on the spot.

Further, it was highlighted by DRRAA that there is a delay of several weeks between people applying for e-coupons and it being generated, which leaves people in an extremely precarious position.

As per the information provided by the counsels for the Delhi government 54 lakh people who do not have ration cards have applied for e-coupons. Of these till May 27, 33.3 lakh people had been provided e-coupons.

The counsels informed the HC that they had provisioned for 30 lakh persons through e-coupon, 6 lakh persons under the Atma Nirbhar Scheme announced by the Central government and 1.74 lakh emergency coupons through MLAs/MPs and the food minister.

The Delhi HC observed that rations must be provided to all. Further it directed the GNCTD to request and advice MLAs and MPs to designate place and time where they are available for issuing e-coupons and for this information to be widely publicised.

On the issue of grievance redress and help-lines, DRRAA pointed out that complaint helpline numbers (1967 and 1301) designated by the Delhi government and the Delhi Disaster Management Authority continued to be inaccessible. The 1967 number is seldom answered and very often connects to the helpline centre in Uttarakhand.

During the hearing, the court attempted to connect to the helplines and after several unsuccessful trials observed that the said helpline itself appeared to be a disaster.

The judges directed that the strength of the helpline should be increased from the current strength of 6 persons in the call centre to ensure that calls are answered and grievances are recorded. Further, the government was directed to place in the public domain details of calls received, complaints registered and redressed.

To ensure proper oversight and monitoring of the functioning of ration shops, which are often found shut during working hours, the court directed that Food Inspectors shall carry out regular visits and also directed the SDMs to monitor shops and report to the District Secretaries of the Delhi Legal Services Authorities (DLSA).

The court directed the Secretary cum Food Commissioner of Delhi government to file a fresh compliance report regarding these directions and has now listed the matter to be heard on May 26, 2020.

DRRAA was represented by Mr. Sanjay Parikh and Mr. Prasanna S.