Govt. told to provide rice, dal to non-cardholders at ration shops

HC wants physical distancing maintained when beneficiaries stand in queue

04/04/2020, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

The Madras High Court on Friday directed the State government not to insist upon the presence of migrant labourers and others who do not possess ration cards at the Collectorates concerned to obtain 15 kg of rice, one kg of dal and one kg of edible oil offered to mitigate the hardship caused by the nationwide lockdown to fight COVID-19.

A Division Bench of Justices Vineet Kothari and R. Suresh Kumar feared that asking people without ration cards to approach the jurisdictional Collectorates might defeat the object of maintaining physical distancing. Hence, they ordered that the essential commodities be supplied to such people too in the nearest ration shop itself. In order to keep a check over any irregularities in supplying the commodities, the ration shops must be ordered to submit the details of daily transactions to the Collectorate, they added.

‘Communicate orders’

The judges also requested Additional Advocate General P.H. Arvindh Pandian to communicate the orders passed by them to the Chief Secretary forthwith.

The directions were issued on a public interest litigation petition filed by P. Arularasu, who wanted essential commodities to be supplied even to those without ration cards. He said Aadhaar or driving licence should be permitted as alternative identity proof. However, the AAG told the court that even those without ration cards could avail the benefits at the Collectorates.

Passing interim orders in yet another PIL petition filed by advocate G. Rajesh, the Bench directed officials to ensure that physical distancing was maintained at ration shops when beneficiaries queue up.

Technical committee

The Bench further directed a technical committee led by the Health Secretary to consider a representation made by a litigant, P.A. Joseph of Chennai, to suggest ‘Kabasura Kashayam’, a Siddha medication, to boost immunity against COVID-19.

Though the litigant sought a positive direction to the government to prescribe it as a preventive medicine and also as a medication for treating COVID-19 patients, the judges left it to the discretion of the committee to take a call.

They recalled having passed similar orders early this week on a public interest litigation petition, which sought a direction to the government to consider providing alternative medication such as Siddha, Unani and homeopathy to treat COVID-19.