The high court here on Tuesday suggested the Maharashtra government consider linking ration cards with the newly introduced Aadhaar cards, to ascertain bogus and duplicate ones in the state.
A bench of judges A M Khanwilkar and R D Dhanuka took a serious view on bogus ration cards and questioned inaction on the part of the authorities. The court was hearing a public interest suit filed by a Jayprakash Unecha two years ago.
“Aren’t two years enough to unravel the mystery of bogus ration cards?” the bench asked, adding the government was short on staff and vision. “Will it not be a prudent approach in the matter to make it compulsory to produce the Aadhaar card for the issuance of a new ration card? Why is the government not considering this? Unless you put a verification process in place, you cannot track the duplicate or bogus ration cards,” Khanwilkar said.
When additional public prosecutor Aruna Kamat Pai informed the court the government was short-staffed, the bench said, “Link everything to the Aadhaar card scheme and make one team run it. No great changes need to be made. The state will have to only link both the cards via a software.”
Directing the government to consider the link between the two cards, the court adjourned hearing of the public interest litigation till next week.
