CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has set June 22 deadline for the State government to submit a report on implementation of Odisha State Food Security (Targeted Public Distribution System) Rules, 2020 notified to execute the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in the State.
The Court also wants to know by then ‘whether in fact’ the Project Directors of District Rural Development Agencies, who have been appointed as District Grievance Redressal Officers (DGROs), have been able to discharge their functions independently and effectively. The Court issued the order while hearing a petition seeking intervention for proper distribution of entitled food grains under the NFSA. Odisha State Legal Services Authority had filed the petition in 2019.
Issuing the order on Wednesday, the division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice BP Routray said, “An updated status report in the form of an affidavit be filed by the next date informing the Court as to how many complaints have been received by the DGROs between January 1 and May 31, 2021 and how the DGROs dealt with those complaints. Statistics in this regard be placed before the Court”.
“The progress of social audit also be informed to the Court. The affidavit shall give the status of compliance of the directions issued for setting up of village committees at all levels”, the bench said in the order.The government had sought more time stating that the entire process of social audit would be completed by August, 2021. Instructions have been issued to all collectors on July 6, 2020 for constitution of committees and to make them functional immediately, the government had submitted.