The Delhi Government has informed the Delhi High Court that no ration card was issued to a woman for over 8 years since the limit for issuance of 72 lakh ration cards set by the Centre based on the Census of 2011, was already exhausted.

Justice Rekha Palli therefore directed thr  Centre as well as the Delhi Government to file their counter affidavits within a period of four weeks.

The Court was dealing with a woman's plea regarding non-issuance of ration card to her over a lapse of 8 years despite her repeated representations made to the Authority.

The woman, claiming to be a person falling under the below poverty line category, had approached the Court with a grievance that despite her application dated September 25, 2013, no ration card was issued to her over 8 years.

Earlier, the Court had sought the stand of Delhi Government in the matter after the petitioner's counsel submitted that an application was also submitted in the year 2018 and that being a person falling below the BPL category, she had no source of income to sustain herself.

During the previous course of hearing, Advocate Gautam Narayan appearing for the Delhi Government submitted that the amount of food grains to be allowed to every State and Union Territory depends on the formula devised by the Central Government.

Moreover, he added that during the entire period, the Petitioner was not deprived of or denied ration and was in fact been provided with subsidized food grains free of cost. 

Narayan also submitted that after the introduction of the National Food Security Act in the year 2013, every person is being issued new smart cards based on the Aadhar card details.

The matter will now be considered on January 5.

Title: Shanti Devi v. Union of India