The Madras High Court on Monday disposed of a writ petition filed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) seeking a direction to the State government to distribute Pongal cash gift of ₹2,500 and a hamper containing festive groceries to all rice ration cardholders without accepting tokens issued by ruling party men with political imagery.
First Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy disposed of the case after recording the submission of Advocate General Vijay Narayan representing the State government and senior counsel P. Wilson, representing the petitioner, that circulars had been issued to ration shops to accept only official tokens.
The A-G told the court that ration shops had been issuing tokens to cardholders in order to streamline the crowd management and distribute cash and gift hampers in batches. He said the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation and Registrar of Cooperative Societies issued circulars on December 31 instructing ration shopkeepers to accept only official tokens.
After recording his submission, the judge granted liberty to the petitioner to file a fresh writ petition if there were any complaints regarding effective implementation of the circulars.
