Supreme Court: While considering the matter concerning issuing ration cards to migrant labourers, the Division Bench of Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah, JJ., directed that all such persons who are eligible/entitled for Ration Cards/ foodgrains as per the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) and have been identified as such by the respective States/Union Territories, must be issued Ration Cards before 19-11-2024. The Court also directed that such eligible labourers should be provided with foodgrains forthwith. Expressing its displeasure, the Court said that “Patience may be a virtue — but ours is nearing its end”.
The Court strictly directed that the Secretaries (Food and Civil Supplies) of States where despite identification, Ration Cards have not been issued on or before 19-11.2024, shall remain present in person before the Court on the next date of hearing, to explain as to why Ration Cards have not been issued despite identification, and repeated orders in the regard.
Lastly, the Court directed the Registry to list the instant matter as priority for 19-11-2024.
[In Re: Problems and Miseries of Migrant Labourers, 2024 SCC OnLine SC 2733, decided on 4-10-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
Petitioner-in person: Mr. Prashant Bhushan, AOR
For respondents: Mr. Abhishek Atrey, AOR; Dr. Abhishek Atrey, Adv.; Ms. Ishita Bist, Adv.; Ms. Ambika Atrey, Adv.; Ms. Jyoti Verma, Adv.; Mr. Brijesh Kumar, Adv.; Mr. Sanjay Kumar Visen, AOR; Mr. Aravindh S., AOR; Mr. Akshay Gupta, Adv.; Ms. Tharane S, Adv.; Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR; Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv.; Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv.; Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv.; Mr. R. Rajaselvan, Adv. PLR Chambers And Co., AOR; Mr. Rahul Chitnis, Adv.; Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv.; Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR; Mr. Abhimanyu Tewari, AOR; Ms. Eliza Barr, Adv.; Mr. Nitin Mishra, AOR; Mr. Alok Sangwan, Sr. A.A.G.; Mr. Samar Vijay Singh, AOR; Mr. Sumit Kumar Sharma, Adv.; Mr. Rajat Sangwan, Adv.; Ms. Sabarni Som, Adv.; Mr. Fateh Singh, Adv.; Mr. Sudarshan Lamba, AOR; Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR; Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv.; Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv.; Mr. Biju P Raman, AOR; Mr. Subhash Chandran K R, Adv. Ms. Krishna L R, Adv. Mr. John Thomas Arakal, Adv. Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR; Mr. K. M. Nataraj, A.S.G. Ms. Aishwariya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Kanu Agrawal, Adv. Mr. Rajat Nair, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Mishra, Adv. Mr. Ketan Paul, Adv. Ms. Chitrangda Rastravara, Adv. Mr. Sarthak Karol, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR; Ms. Aishwariya Bhati, Adv. Mr. Aman Sharma, Adv. Ms. B L N Shivani, Adv. Ms. Shweta Singh Verma, Adv. Ms. Neelakshi Bhadauriya, Adv. Mr. Sudarshan Lamba, AOR Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR; Mr. Rahul Kumar, Adv. Mr. Aakash Thakur, Adv. Mr. Aryan Srivastava, Adv; Mr. Sarthak Dora, Adv. Ms. Ayushi Bansal, Adv. Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR Ms. Limayinla Jamir, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv. Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv. Mr. Mohit Paul, AOR Mr. Ajay Pal, AOR; Ms. Rohini Prasad, AOR; Ms. Nupur Kumar, AOR Mr. Rituraj Biswas, AOR; Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR; Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR; Ms. Prerna Singh, Adv. Mr. Dhruv Yadav, Adv. Mr. Raj Kishor Choudhary, AOR Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR Mrs. Anu K Joy, Adv. Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv. Mr. Ajith Anto Perumbully, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Khanna, AOR; Ms. Natasha Sahrawat, Adv. Ms. Deepali Bhanot, Adv. Mr. Gautam Barnwal, Adv. Mr. Rudraksh Pandey, Adv. Ms. Alisha Roy, Adv. Mr. Satya Mitra, AOR Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, AOR Mr. B. K. Satija, A.A.G. Ms. Diwangan Kiran Bala, Adv. Mr. B. K. Satija, AOR; Mr. Subodh S. Patil, AOR; Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR; Mr. T.k. Nayak, Adv. Ms. Marbiang Khongwir, Adv. Mr. Vikas Bansal, Adv. Mr. Upendra Mishra, Adv. Mr. P.S. Negi, Adv. Ms. Cheryl D’Souza, Adv. Ms. Ranjeeta Rohatgi, AOR Mr. Arjun D Singh, Adv. Ms. Ankita Sharma, AOR Mr. Pranav Sachdeva, AOR; Ms. Manisha Luvkumar, Sr. Adv. Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR; Ms. Pinky Behera, AOR; Mr. Sravan Kumar Karanam, AOR Ms. Shireesh Tyagi, Adv. Mr. Aniket Singh, Adv. Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, AOR; Mr. Manish Kumar, AOR; Mr. Divyansh Mishra, Adv.; Ms. Mrinal Gopal Elker, AOR; Ms. Mrigna Shekhar, Adv. Ms. Chhavi Khandelwal, Adv. Mr. Siddhant Sharma, AOR Ms. G. Indira, AOR; Mr. P Gandepan, Adv.; Mr. Ashwini Kumar, Adv. Ms. D Poornima, Adv. Mr. Karan Bharihoke, AOR Ms. Garima Prashad, Sr. A.A.G.; Ms. Ruchira Goel, AOR; Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, AOR; Mr. Himanshu Chakravarty, Adv. Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR Mr. Sunil Fernandes, AOR Mr. Rakesh Dahiya, AOR Mr. D. L. Chidananda, AOR Mr. Sunil Fernandes, AOR Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna, AOR Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR; Mr. K. M. Nataraj, A.S.G. Mr. Vatsal Joshi, Adv. Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv. Mr. Annirudh Sharma -(ii), Adv. Ms. Priyadarshini Priya, Adv. Mr. Rajesh Singh Chauhan, Adv. Mr. Indira Bhakar, Adv. Mr. Mrinal Elkar Mazumdar, Adv. Mr. Shashwat Parihar, Adv. Mr. Vinayak Sharma, Adv. Mr. Mukul Singh, Adv. Mr. Rajat Nair, Adv. Mr. Sourabh Mishra, Adv. Mr. Aman Sharma, Adv. B.L.N Shivani, Adv. Mr. Vineet Singh, Adv. Ms. Kiran Bala Sahay, Adv. Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G. Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, Adv. Ms. Shalini Singh, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, Adv. Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR Mr. Rajiv Shankar Dvivedi, Adv. Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Shwetank Singh, Adv. Mr. Rushab Aggarwal, Adv. Mr. Pashupathi Nath Razdan, AOR Mr. Sachin Patil, AOR Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, AOR Mr. Dhananjay Kataria, Adv.; Mrs. Mahima C Shroff, Adv.; Mr. Anand Thumbayil, Adv. Mr. Divyanshu Kumar Srivastava, AOR