3 Aadhaar Cards Illegally Used To Withdraw Ration Of 697 Cardholders: Allahabad High Court Denies Relief On Cancellation Of Fair Price Shop
Last month, the Allahabad High Court denied relief to a fair price shop license holder who was using 3 , to illegal withdraw ration of 697 ration cardholders as the petitioner could not demonstrate that ration was actually being distributed to 697 ration cardholders.
While upholding the cancellation of petitioner's fair price shop license, Justice Arun Kumar held
“it is evident that use of three Aadhaar cards to withdraw ration of 697 cardholders has not been reasonably explained by the petitioner. There is nothing on record to show that 162 affidavits filed by the petitioner, accepting receipt of essential commodities from her, are from 697 cardholders, whose ration has been withdrawn by resorting to interpolation. Even though, 162 cardholders accept receipt of ration regularly, petitioner cannot be obliterated from showing that, the use of three Aadhaar Card numbers for 697 cardholders was not her own volition.”
Upon inquiry it was found that 1 Aadhar card was being used to withdraw ration for multiple cardholders, subsequently an FIR was lodged against the petitioner and 21 others under Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 read with Sections 3/7 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. Petitioner's fair price shop license was cancelled on grounds of black marketing of essential commodities in the name of 697 cardholders.
Petitioner approached the High Court against cancellation of her fair price shop license.
The Court observed that through manipulation of the E-PoS machine (Electronic Point of Sale) the petitioner had used 3 Aadhar cards to withdraw ration for 697 cardholders. The Court held that petitioner was unable to explain satisfactorily the allegation of glitch in the server.
The Court observed that a coordinate bench in Awadhesh Kumar vs. State of U.P. and others had noted how the E-PoS machine could be manipulated during the day as details could be entered and edited while the machine was in dynamic mode and before it was locked in the evening.
“The learned Single Judge has found that when this scam was unearthed it was a period when the manual process of distribution of essential commodities was in transition phase for the use of E-PoS machine. Taking advantage of the fact that all the ration cardholders attached to a particular dealer/shop was not feeded and seeded and the process was underway, while the distribution of essential commodities continued, interpolation was made by the dealer in the details by using one or two Aadhaar numbers, and ration for multiple cardholders were withdrawn.”
The Court relied on Awadhesh Kumar vs. State of U.P. and others, wherein the Allahabad High Court held that
“The entire effort of both Central and State Governments was to reduce pilferage of essential commodities meant for eligible cardholders by the use of electronic device with biometric authentication of beneficiary.”
Observing that the petitioner had produced affidavits from only 162 cardholders who were actually receiving benefits, the Court held that there was nothing to show that these 162 cardholders belonged to the 697 cardholders where interpolation was done. Further, holding that no specific pleading of malafide was made against the State officers, the writ petition was dismissed.
Case Title: Smt. Shahin Begum and 9 others Versus State of U.P. and 5 others [WRIT - C No. - 37032 of 2019]