By: Shreeya Shukla

Introduction(Delhi HC asked):

A Divisional Bench of the High Court of Delhi on Monday directed the Delhi government to ensure that all the ration shops are kept open daily between the period of 9 am to 1 pm as well as from 3 pm to 7 pm and these food grains are distributed among the poor, marginalized as well as the underprivileged sections of the society.

Delhi HC asked the state government to ensure the availability of food grains for the poor.

Passing the interim orders on the petition filed by Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan, a bench consisting of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh directed the government to ensure “that all the Sub-Divisional Magistrates of each of the district carry out strict and the regular monitoring as well as oversight of distribution of the food grains, as afore direct and upload the details about the shop-wise distribution of ration to both the PDS as well as non-PDS residents on their official website, at the end of each day.”

The Bench further said that: “We observe that the distress caused to the residents of all the city due to the ongoing lockdown imposed to contain this spread of the coronavirus, has been further aggravated by the stated denial of access to these food grain to the poor, underprivileged as well as all the marginalized sections of the populace, even though we are informed at the Bar that, the GNCTD is undertaking all the important steps to alleviate their suffering through various measures, stated to include the serving of hot meals twice a day at a very large no. of the specified locations.”

The state government was directed to widely publicize all the Court’s directions through the print and electronic media and to further disseminate information on Grievance. Helpline numbers that could be reached by those aggrieved because of the non-distribution of all the food grains.







