Petition filed in Delhi HC seeks COVID relief materials to Aadhar, voter ID card holders too

A petition has been moved in the Delhi High Court, seeking directions to the Centre and Delhi government to provide relief materials and food grains to the holders of Aadhar card and voter ID card in view of the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

The plea is seeking directions to ensure the sufficient food grains should be available at PDS shops for distribution without any kind of discrimination. It said the ration should be provided to Aadhar/voter ID cardholders the same way it is being distributed among the ration cardholders.

The petition moved by NGO Nayee Soch Society through advocate Varun Jain is slated to be heard by a division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan on Tuesday.

It also seeks directions to the respondents to jointly and severally take action against the arraying officials who have breached their duty of implementing the directions, orders, advisory and instruction given under the provisions of the Disaster Management Act.

The action of the respondents of denying the benefit, advantage and privileges of corona relief kit to the non-ration cardholders/Aadhar cardholders/voter cardholders are highly unjust, arbitrary, irrational, illegal, unwarranted, unreasonable and uncalled for and without any reasonable basis and without any justified and lawful grounds, the plea said.

The plea added that the action is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India, which provides that the State shall not deny to any person equality to its citizen.

In the present disaster, the non-ration cardholders/Aadhar cardholders/voter cardholders or the persons who are residing in Delhi is equally entitled to the same benefit, advantage, privileges, concession as conferred upon the ration cardholders, it said.

It said that there is no reason to discriminate between the ration cardholders and non-ration cardholders, Aadhar cardholders and voter ID cardholders.

The plea said that corona relief kits containing food grains, etc., are being provided to ration cardholders, whereas Aadhar and voter ID cardholders are not being provided with the same benefits.

( With inputs from ANI )