'If three crore ration cards are cancelled then it is a 'serious matter': Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has termed the cancellation of close to three crore ration cards due to not being linked to the Aadhaar card as a 'very serious' matter.

The court has sought answers from the central government and all the states on this matter.

A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justice AS Bopanna and Justice V. Ramasubramanian said this while hearing a petition on Wednesday.

Senior advocate Colin Gonzalvis, appearing on behalf of the petitioner in this petition, said that 'his ration card was canceled by the local authorities for not being attached to the Aadhaar card, due to which his family stopped receiving rations in March 2017. Was and the whole family was forced to go hungry.

The petitioner told the court that 'his daughter Santoshi died due to lack of food.' 11-year-old Santoshi from Jharkhand died on 28 September 2018 due to hunger. Santoshi's sister Gudiya Devi is the joint petitioner in this case.

The petition also said that 'even on the day of Santoshi's death, his mother could only give him salt with tea, because only he was present in the kitchen. After that, Santoshi died the same night.

At the beginning of the hearing, lawyer Colin Gonzalvis said that 'this petition raises a big matter'. He said, "This matter is important because the central government has canceled about three crore ration cards in the same way."

However, Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi said that 'Colin Gonzalvis' claim that the Central Government has canceled ration cards is wrong.

The bench said that 'We are asking you (from the Center) for the answer due to the Aadhaar card case. This is not a protest case. We will finally hear it. Notices should be issued to which to be responded to in four weeks, as this is a very serious matter. '

The apex court had on December 9, 2019 sought answers from all the states on the allegation that people died due to deprivation of ration supplies for not having a valid Aadhaar card.

According to the news agency PTI, the bench had said, "four weeks will be given to the states to respond to the steps they Issue notice noticeable in. The state's permanent lawyer can be given notice.

Earlier, the Center had said that the report shows that the deaths were not due to hunger.

The Center had said that 'no one was denied food due to lack of valid Aadhaar card'.