Justice Joymalya Bagchi of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Sunday directed the government to give a comprehensive reply in two days to the State Election Commission’s (SEC) letter to Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das, wherein it was suggested that the launching of door delivery of ration in the districts with the involvement of people’s representatives be deferred on the ground that the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) was in force for the gram panchayat elections.
Mr. Justice Bagchi also stated in his interim order that the SEC should dispose of the matter in five days thereafter.
In his letter to the Chief Secretary on January 21, State Election Commissioner N. Ramesh Kumar said it had been brought to his notice that the launching of vehicles for delivering ration at the doorstep of the beneficiaries of the Public Distribution System (PDS) would constitute a new scheme.
The Chief Secretary replied to the SEC on January 28 that the door delivery of ration under PDS was only an extension of the project that commenced in September 2019 and it, therefore, did not constitute a new scheme.
Secretary (Consumer Affairs and Food & Civil Supplies) K. Sasidhar had mentioned in the petition filed by him that the government was advised against launching the pre-existing programme at this juncture in the rural areas pending further examination of all aspects. However, the respondent claimed to have taken a generous view for the launch of the scheme in the urban areas.
The government contended that the flagging of vehicles by the Chief Minister on January 21 was only a formal ceremony related to the scheme that had taken shape well before the MCC came into effect.
The SEC relied on the flagging of the vehicles to portray the scheme as a new one that attracted the election code.
