HC to Gujarat state: Provide BPL cards to 145,000 applicants

The Gujarat High Court directed the Gujarat state government here Tuesday, to provide below poverty line (BPL) cards to 1.45 lakh applicants from Junagadh district, after processing their applications within two months, in response to a public interest litigation (PIL).

The two-judge Gujarat High Court bench of Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala directed the state government to process all the application and provide BPL cards to them.

The court gave this order after hearing a PIL filed by a Congress MLA Jawahar Chavda from Manavadar constituency, in March this year.

However, the high court did not accept allegations by the petitioner that Gujarat Chief Minister Anandi Patel allegedly gave oral instructions not to process applications or forms submitted through Chavda.

The court also did not heed the Chavda's demand to probe denial of BPL cards to poor people and to fix the responsibility for doing so, on Gujarat government authorities.

Gujarat government had earlier submitted before the high court that Anandi Patel, who was then revenue minister did not give any oral direction to any official in connection with the BPL card issue.

The petitioner had submitted that 1.45 lakh applications were filed through Chavda on behalf of people from Socially and Economically Backward Classes (SEBC) in 2012.