Distribute grain to Murbad tribals by November 4, Bombay High Court orders state

Promising a brighter Diwali for several tribal families from Murbad who had been denied food grain over Aadhaar linkage the Bombay High Court has ordered the state to give them ration under the Food Security Act and the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana before Thursday Citing Citing the central notifications and Supreme Courtrsquos Aadhar judgment the court said people from marginalised communities cannot be faulted for technical issuesHailing the HC order Indavi Tulpule of Shramik Mukti Sanghatana the organisation that helped the tribals to move the court said that the district supply officer had on February 21 told all tehsils that Aadhaar linkage was a precondition for beneficiaries to avail free food grain from the government Between June and September she said 350 ration cardholders had complained to the Murbad and Shahapur tehsils about the denial of food grainsIndavi Tulpule who helped the tribals with the caseldquoWhen their cries went unheard a writ petition was filed in the HC The judges rightly pointed out to the state that these entitlements are not charity or doles but are for food security of the marginalised familiesrdquo she said She said several factors hamper Aadhaar linkage While fingerprints can get distorted due to age accident or work iris authentication doesnrsquot succeed all the time Lack of Aadhaar cards no internet at fair price shops names missing from ration cards and change in the address are other reasons she said ldquoAs per details compiled by the Shramik Mukti Sanghatna children have been impacted the most due to denial of rations in Murbad and Shahpur talukasrdquo she saidldquoOne of the major problems faced is that there is no free Aadhaar facilitation centre in the entire Murbad tehsil And the two paid centers charging minimum Rs 100 is located around 20 to 40 km from the tribal belt which means the transportation cost would itself be around Rs 200 extra Since these tribals do not have a fixed source of income they usually cannot afford such expensesrdquo said Tulpule She added ldquoIf the stateCentre mandates Aadhaar linkage to the RCMS Ration Card Management System they should have provided an Aadhaar facilitation centre for free at a convenient locationrdquoThe family of Bhau Rama Kawate white shirt who is petitioner no 3 of Bharechiwadi taluka in MurbadldquoThe Bombay High court order dated October 29 though refers to the Murbad case we are hoping that the district and state administration would take cognisance of the same and implement food security schemes at other tribal areas within Maharashtra where similar issues might be ignored by the district officialsrdquo said Tulpule However the authorities were yet to give the ratio till Tuesday afternoon she said ldquoWe will wait until November 4 as per the directives of the court and then take appropriate steps if the district administration fails to acknowledge and act on itrdquo she saidWhy the tribals moved HCIn their petition the tribals belonging to Scheduled Tribes told the HC that they were denied their food entitlements mandated by the National Food Security Act 2013 citing nonlinking of Aadhaar with ration cards In the case of petitioner no 1mdashGanpat Dharma Mengal of Sisewadi Jhadgar Murbadmdashhis wife Shalu Mengal and son Mohan were denied ration on the grounds of incorrect address data The family was told it was their responsibility to have the corrections affected Petitioner 2mdashPrakash Hari Padir of Durgapur Post Dhasai Murbad struggled to get the names of his mother wife and their children added to the ration card in the absence of Aadhaar He said authorities were not all cooperativeGanpat Mengal petitioner no 1 from Murbad whose family was denied ration over nonlinkage of Aadhaar to statersquos PDS databaseOnly six of the 11 members of the family of petitioner 3mdashBhau Rama Kavte of Sonawale Bharechiwadi Taluka Murbadmdashwere getting ration Citing a Government Resolution the Murbad Tehsildar said Aadhaar was a must for his children to avail food grains Tulpule said officials documents at the district supply office in Thane showed that the collector had asked officials to desist from giving food grains through offline methodsHC observationldquoIt is a disheartening situation for us when we the fortunates are eagerly awaiting as the festive season is approaching and the festival of lights would spread joy and happiness in the society throughout the State or the whole nation here are the few petitioners who are the members of the marginalised section in general and tribals in particular who have approached this Court on a grievance that they are deprived of the basic requirement of human life ie food only on account that the State machinery is not technically equipped to give them the benefits flowing from the scheme formulated and floated by the Union of India and to be implemented and executed by the respective Statesrdquo the court observed The HC cited the ldquoAadhaar Card Judgmentrdquo of the Supreme Court to stress that ldquodignity is an integral element of natural law and an inalienable constitutional constructrdquoCourt orderIn their order a divisional bench of Justices Prasanna Varale and Madhav Jamdar stated ldquoAs we are unable to find any logic reason or rationale for denying the benefits of distribution of foodgrains to the Petitioners and alike persons raising certain technical ground by the Respondent authorities by way of interim direction we direct the Respondent nos 1 2 and 3 Tahsildar Murbad District Supply officer Thane and Collector Thane to distribute the foodgrains to the Petitioners and similarly circumstanced persons ndash the tribal beneficiaries of Murbad taluka under the public distribution scheme as well as the provisions of the National Food Security Act and the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna YojanardquoThe order added ldquoWe further direct Respondent Nos1 and 2 to distribute the foodgrains to the tribal persons before 4th November 2021 and Respondent No3 Collector Thane shall implement supervise the distribution and shall assure that the order of this Court is duly complied with within the stipulated periodrdquo The matter will be heard next on December 1