Supreme Court To Hear Pleas Relating To Validity Of West Bengal Door Step Ration Scheme In January

The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned till January 2026 the hearing of the petitions relating to the validity of the 2021 West Bengal Duare Ration scheme, under which the State government delivers foodgrains through the public distribution system at the doorsteps of beneficiaries.

A bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta adjourned the matter till January 15 based on the request made by the State's lawyers, Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Rakesh Dwivedi.  Sibal sought adjournments due to his prior engagement in the matter relating to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in various States, which is being heard by the Chief Justice's bench.

The West Bengal Government has challenged the September 28, 2022, order whereby a division bench comprising Justice Aniruddha Roy and Justice Chitta Ranjan Dash held the scheme to be illegal and ultra vires of the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA, 2013). It was observed that the State Government has transgressed the limit of delegation by obliging the Fair Price Shop dealers to distribute the rations to the beneficiaries at their doorstep in the absence of any authority to that effect in the enabling Act, i.e. NFSA. (Sekh Abdul Majed v. State of West Bengal & Ors).

"If the 'NFS Act' is amended by the wisdom of the Union Legislature i.e. Parliament for doorstep delivery of food grains to the beneficiaries or invest any such power to the State Government then only such a scheme can be made by the State and that can be said to be in sync with the enabling Act," it held.

It should be noted that in November 2022, a bench comprising Justice Sanjeev Khanna and Justice MM Sundresh had ordered status quo prevailing before the September 28 judgment. The status quo continues till date.

The division bench's judgment came after a single judge in June 2022, Justice Krishna Rao, upheld the constitutionality of the Duare Ration Scheme, finding no illegality in it. The issue before the High Court was that the notification issued by the State Government on September 13, 2021, which amended Clause 18 of the West Bengal Public Distribution System (Maintenance and Control) Order, 2013, be declared as unconstitutional and ultra vires to the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA, 2013). It was challenged on the grounds that any scheme in relation to the distribution of ration items which is already occupied by a Central Government Order passed under the Essential Commodities Act and the NFSA (Sk. Manowar Ali & Ors. v. State of West Bengal).

In December 2021, another single judge of the Calcutta High Court, Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya, had upheld the scheme. It opined that a reform in the targeted public distribution system and a welfare scheme formulated for reaching food and nutritional security is a necessity-driven measure to tide over the extant existential challenge.

Case Details: THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL AND ANR.v  SEKH ABDUL MAJED AND ORS.|C.A. No. 1444/2024