Court stays state govt order linking Aadhaar to PDS
QUESTION Court asks government why Aadhaar made compulsory for PDS beneficiaries, who have a ration card
The Jaipur bench of Rajasthan High Court has stayed the state government’s order making Aadhar compulsory for availing food grains and other commodities under the public distribution system (PDS).
A double bench of the high court, comprising chief justice Pradeep Nandrajog and justice SP Sharma, has issued a notice to state chief secretary and principal secretary (food and civil supplies) in this regard. The government has been asked to explain why is it compulsory for PDS beneficiaries, who already have a ration card, to have an Aadhar card.
Senior advocate RN Mathur, who represented the petitioner Taib Khan, told HT that on March 24 the Rajasthan government had issued an order that made linking Aadhar mandatory for availing PDS benefits. It also had a provision that the Aadhar number would have to be inserted in the POS machines at the PDS shops. In case a person does not have an Aadhar card, he would be sent a one-time password (OTP) which will have to be keyed in the POS machine and in case the beneficiary does not have a mobile then the same will have to be certified by a competent authority.
Mathur in his submission said that according to the Supreme Court order, Aadhar could not be made compulsory for government welfare scheme and secondly if a person already has a ration card then asking for Aadhar puts a question mark on the sanctity of the ration card. In addition, he said, Aadhar has not been issued to all.
The Supreme Court had on
IN FEBRUARY THIS YEAR, THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT HAD MADE AADHAAR MANDATORY FOR AVAILING SUBSIDISED FOODGRAINS FROM RATION SHOPS
March 27 made it clear that Aadhaar cards cannot be made mandatory by the government for extending benefits of social welfare schemes.
The high court has stayed the order and issued a notice to the state government.
As per official data, out of 3.34 crore PDS beneficiaries in Rajasthan, only around 95.94 lakh beneficiaries have linked their Aadhar numbers so far.
In February this year, the central government had made Aadhaar mandatory for availing subsidised foodgrains from ration shops with a view to better target ₹1.4 lakh crore subsidy under the food security law.
The government has given time to those not having the biometric-based unique identification number to apply for Aadhaar by June 30.
Under the National Food Security Law (NFSA), which has been completely rolled out across the country in November last year, the government provides 5 kg of foodgrains per person every month at ₹1-3/kg to over 80 crore people.