A Division Bench of the Delhi High Court Monday directed the Delhi government to ensure that all ration shops are kept open daily from 9 am to 1 pm and from 3 pm to 7 pm and distribute food grains to the poor, marginalized and underprivileged sections of society.
Passing interim orders on a petition filed by the Delhi RoziRoti Adhikar Abhiyan, a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh directed the government to ensure “that the Sub-Divisional Magistrates of each district carry out strict and regular monitoring and oversight of the distribution of food grains, as afore directed and upload the details of shop-wise distribution of ration to both the PDS and non-PDS residents on their official website, at the end of each day.”
The Bench said: “We observe that the distress caused to the residents of the city by the ongoing lockdown imposed in order to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus, has been further aggravated by the stated denial of access to food grain to the poor, under-privileged and marginalized sections of the populace, even though we are informed at the Bar that, the GNCTD is undertaking necessary steps to alleviate their suffering through various measures, stated to include the serving of hot meals twice a day at a large number of specified locations.”
The state government was directed to widely publicise the Court’s directions through the print and electronic media and to further disseminate information on Grievance Helpline numbers that could be reached by those aggrieved because of non-distribution of food grains.