Bengal's doorstep ration plan hits legal hurdle : Mamata govt's scheme nullified by Calcutta High Court

The verdict spells a setback for the Bengal government as the ruling TMC

A ration dealer in Purulia delivers foodgrains to a beneficiary on the latter’s doorstep in November, 2021: File picture

Tapas Ghosh   |    TT  |   Calcutta   |   29.09.22  : Duare Ration, the Mamata Banerjee government’s scheme to deliver supplies on the doorstep of households, has been nullified by a division bench of Calcutta High Court.

The verdict spells a setback for the Bengal government as the ruling Trinamul Congress had announced its plan to roll out the scheme in its manifesto ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections. The scheme, which was supposed to be a key factor in the upcoming panchayat polls, was among the first announcements that Mamata made after becoming chief minister for the third time in a row.

Delivering the judgment on Wednesday, the division bench of Justices Chitta Ranjan Dash and Aniruddha Roy observed: “The Duare Ration scheme is ultra vires (to) the National Food Security Act, 2013, and is, therefore, a nullity in the eyes of the law.”

Two petitions on behalf of the ration dealers’ association were filed before two separate single-bench judges, claiming that the government’s plan to deliver ration on the doorstep curbed the right of the association members.

In separate verdicts, the single-bench judges had dismissed the petitions of the association, following which appeals were filed before the division bench.

On Wednesday, the division bench said: “We are constrained to hold that the State Government has transgressed the limit of delegation by obliging the Fair Price Shop dealers to distribute the rations to the beneficiaries at their doorstep in the absence of any authority to that effect in the enabling Act, that is the National Food Security Act.”

The division bench set aside the verdicts passed by the single benches.

The main legal point before the division bench was whether the state government, through its Duare Ration scheme, had exceeded its limits of delegation, explained a lawyer not connected with the case.

The division bench concluded that the state had exceeded its limit of delegation, the lawyer said.

Senior advocates like Debadyuti Datta and Jaydeep Kar had represented the appellants while the state advocate-general had appeared for the government.

Senior advocates Kar and Datta had contended that a similar move was initiated by the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi but a court had restrained it from continuing with the scheme by declaring it “unconstitutional”.

The Bengal advocate-general had underscored that the scheme was undertaken by the state government for the benefit of the common people and that it had already been accepted by the people at large.

“The state is planning to move the Supreme Court,” a law department source said.

“The scheme was planned mainly for those living in the remote areas as they have to travel a long way to collect their rations every week. As the number of such people is not negligible, the government will move the apex court challenging the order,” said an official.