The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked Telangana government to conduct a field verification of ration cards which were cancelled by it, allegedly without prior notice, and directed the state Chief Secretary to explain in an affidavit the measures taken by the state before cancelling the cards. “We direct the State of Telangana to conduct verification of all the ration cards canceled pursuant to the directive issued by Central Government in 2016. We are informed there are 17 parameters taken into account before cancellation of ration cards. The authorities are directed to conduct field verification of all the cards and also deal with representation preferred by any aggrieved card holder whose card has been canceled expeditiously,” a bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai ordered. The bench, which was hearing an appeal against an order of the Telangana High Court that had refused to entertain a PIL challenging the cancellations, also asked the Chief Secretary to file an affidavit “informing this court as to the steps taken before cancellation of the ration card”. Appearing for the appellant, Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves said no notice was issued to the beneficiaries and that the ration cards were cancelled on the basis of some computer algorithm, which set out 17 parameters. A total of 2l.94 lakh ration cards were cancelled in the state, he said. Gonsalves said the central notification called for ground verification before cancelling the cards, but no such thing was done. One of the main grounds on which the cancellation was done was non-linkage of Aadhaar, he submitted, adding that this was contrary to the Supreme Court ruling in K Puttaswamy Vs Union of India that Aadhaar is not mandatory for receiving such benefits. Gonsalves also referred to the reply filed by the state on the exercise carried out to weed out bogus cards. The state, he pointed out, had said that fair price shop dealers are the main source of bogus cards. “The dealer creates 200-300 bogus cards, draws ration and sells it in the market.” Taking note, Justice Gavai said, “You have to separate the grain from the chaff. For the ration shop owners making bogus cards you cannot stop the benefit that accrues to the genuine card holders…You have to adopt alternative measures for verification.” Appearing for the state, Advocate Venkata Reddy said the cancellations were part of a countrywide exercise following the Centre’s notification. He said the state had issued 23 lakh new ration cards and that this would also include many of those whose cards were cancelled. But the bench said there is no means to determine whether the new cards were issued to fresh applicants or also to those whose cards were cancelled. Justice Rao then suggested that the state conduct a review of the cancellations. The state counsel said verification had already been done at the district level but the court said, “So, you are saying that you verified 21 lakh and then you cancelled. Can we believe this?” “After cancellation of the cards you will go and see? You cannot cancel before verifying.” “It is like convicting a person then conducting a trial. The genuine card-holder should not be harassed,” said Justice Gavai.
