KOLKATA: The West Bengal government on Wednesday received a major setback as the Calcutta High Court termed its ‘Duare Ration’ (food grains at your doorstep) scheme as legally void. The initiative was promised by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee before the 2021 Assembly elections and implemented after the Trinamool Congress (TMC) came to power for the third straight term.
The order came after a petitioner moved the high court challenging the state government’s initiative.
“The Duare Ration scheme is ultra vires to the National Food Security Act, 2013, and is, therefore, a nullity in the eye of the law,’’ said the division bench comprising justice Aniruddha Roy and justice Chitta Ranjan Das.
“We are, therefore, constrained to hold that the state government has transgressed the limit of delegation by obliging the fair price shop dealers to distribute the rations to the beneficiaries at their doorstep in absence of any authority to that effect in the enabling Act i.e. ‘NFS Act’. If the ‘NFS Act’ is amended by the wisdom of the Union Legislature i.e. Parliament for doorstep delivery of food grains to the beneficiaries or invest any such power to the state government then only such a scheme can be made by the State and that can be said to be in sync with the enabling Act,’’ the division bench observed.
The food and supplies department had in a notification cited provisions of the National Food Security Act (NFSA), claiming that it allows the state government to deliver rations at beneficiaries’ doorsteps.
During the course of the hearing, the lawyer representing the state government cited clause 12 under NFSA’s chapter V titled Reforms in Targeted Public Distribution System which mentions that the central and state governments shall endeavour to progressively undertake necessary reforms in the targeted public distribution system (PDS) in consonance with the role envisaged for them in this Act. The reforms shall, inter alia, include doorstep delivery of food grains, he said.
He also cited the NFSA’s clause no 32 which says, “Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the state government may, continue with or formulate food or nutrition based plans or schemes providing for benefits higher than the benefits provided under this Act, from its own recourses.”
But the division bench was not satisfied with the state’s explanation and stalled the scheme. The BJP welcomed the verdict. “We raised the issue of the legal status of the scheme. It was announced by Mamata to attract electorates as part of her populist politics. The court order made it clear that the scheme had no legal status since it was launched,’’ party spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said.
Mamata’s promise of distributing food grains at the doorstep of people, made ahead of the high-octane Assembly polls in 2021, was said to be one of the key factors behind the TMC’s thumping victory despite BJP’s aggressive campaign.
How it unfolded
February 2021: Mamata promises Duare Sarkar's scheme if her party returns to power.
May 2021: TMC returns to power and Mamata announces the implementation of the scheme shortly.
November 2021: The scheme was implemented.
November 2021: Petition filed in High Court challenging the initiative.
December 2021: Single bench judge upheld the meal scheme by opining that a reform in the targeted public distribution system and a welfare scheme is a necessity-driven measure
December 2021: Petitioner moved division bench.
September 2022: High court stalled the scheme saying it is legally void.
Scheme