The central legal point established in the judgment is the constitutional rights to life and food, emphasizing the duty of the government to provide immediate relief to the poor and destitute.

Judgment :

1. In this petition that was filed little more than two years back various issues have been raised, many of which may have a direct and important relevance to the very existence of poor people; their right to life and the right to food of those who can ill-afford to provide for their families two meals a day. Their misfortune becomes further grave during the times of famine and drought.

2. The petitioner has sought directions for enforcement of the Famine Code. The petitioner seeks immediate release of surplus foodgrains lying in the stocks of the Union of India for the drought-affected areas. Directions are also sought requiring the Government to frame fresh schemes of public distribution for scientific and reasonable distribution of foodgrains. In order that any meaningful and immediate relief is given by the Central Government and the State Governments without any delay, various applications have been filed by the petitioner.

3. Considering the importance of the matter particularly in relation to those who are below poverty line (BPL) an order was made by this Court on 3-3-2003 requiring the respondents to file replies to the applications and place on record the requisite material, while adjourning the case to 8-4-2003. In respect of the directions that the Central Government shall formulate the scheme to extend the benefits of the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) to destitute sections of the population, the learned Attorney General stated on the last date of hearing which are on 3-3-2003 that for the Budget for the year 2003-2004 a provision has been made for it. Despite the order of this Court the document has not been placed on record. The approach of the Government is more distressing since this matter which was to come up on 8-4-2003, has come up today after nearly four weeks of the scheduled date but neither the documents have been filed nor have other aspects required to be dealt with in the last order been adverted to.

4. In IA No.25 one of the grievances that has been made is that names of various persons have been removed from BPL arbitrarily. In IA No.26 it has been highlighted that the allocation made for supply of grain in lieu of the labour of BPL family has been recommended to be reduced from 10 kg per day per household to 5 kg and for 10 days in every month till June 2003. In terms of the last order the specific instructions were required to be obtained on the relevant schemes mentioned in IA No.26 including in the matter of reduction of supply of the grain and the number of days. In IA No.24 directions sought against the Union of India are to release 20 million tonnes of foodgrain, at the very minimum, free of cost every year for food-for-work programmes besides other reliefs. Response from the Government was sought within three weeks.

5. Declining request for filing of replies we have heard the learned counsel since it is necessary to consider issuing certain directions without any further delay with a view to provide some ad hoc interim relief to a class which deserves a sympathetic approach. We have heard Mr Colin Gonsalves, learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr Mukul Rohatgi, learned Additional Solicitor General for the Union of India, besides Mr B.B. Singh for the State of Bihar, Mr Ashok Srivastava for the State of U.P. and Ms Indra Sawhney for Food Corporation of India.

6. This Court in various orders passed in the last two years has expressed its deep concern and it has been observed, in one of the orders, that what is of utmost importance is to see that food is provided to the aged, infirm, disabled, destitute women, destitute men who are in danger of starvation, pregnant and lactating women and destitute children, especially in cases where they or members of their family do not have sufficient funds to provide food for them. In case of famine, there may be shortage of food, but here the situation is that amongst plenty there is scarcity. Plenty of food is available, but distribution of t