The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to entertain an urgent mentioning concerning the alleged exclusion of persons from ration beneficiary lists following the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, observing that the issue could be agitated before the jurisdictional High Court.
Advocate Prasanna S mentioned a fresh writ petition alleging that individuals excluded during the SIR process were also facing the prospect of being removed from public distribution system benefits. Mentioning the matter before the Bench, Advocate Prasanna S submitted:
“
“All those people who have been excluded by the SIR are sought to be excluded from the ration list. The issue is whether their ration cards should be disrupted or whether they should continue to be beneficiaries under the public distribution system.”
The Bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, however, noted that the legality of the SIR exercise had already been upheld by the Supreme Court and further observed that similar administrative measures were reportedly being considered by other States as well. The Court remarked:
“
“The difficulty there is that the SIR was upheld by this Court, number one. Number two, many other State Governments have also begun issuing similar orders. It is a pan-India issue.”
While acknowledging the concern raised, the Court declined to entertain the mentioning and advised the petitioner to approach the appropriate High Court.
“
“Please take it to the Calcutta High Court.”