Seeking to know the justification behind denial of ₹1,500 a month during lockdown to a section of white ration card holders, the Telangana High Court on Thursday asked the State government its stand on the matter.
A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy, hearing two PIL pleas on the matter, wanted the State government to clarify if it was going to pay ₹1,500 to all white ration card holders or not. The government announced this monthly financial assistance along with 12 kilos of rice to white ration card holders during the lockdown imposed due to coronavirus pandemic.
However, the officials put a condition that holders of the white cards, who did not draw rice for past three consecutive months, were ineligible to secure the financial assistance. Challenging this condition, two PIL pleas were filed in the HC. While the hearing was in progress, the State government moved the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the matter.
The apex court, declining to give any stay order, directed the State government to approach the HC for adjudication of the matter. When the two pleas came up for hearing, the bench headed by the CJ observed that the government should realise the white ration card holders from the State had gone to far-off places for work. Due to the pandemic, they walked hundreds of kilometres back to their villages. With the denial of the financial assistance by their own State government, these card holders suffer further, the bench said.
They would not have taken the rice here since they had gone to other States for work. That cannot be a ground for denial of financial assistance, the bench remarked. Advocate General B.S. Prasad said the government was ready to present its arguments but sought time. The bench posted the matter to July for next hearing.
