ORDER

FACTS

The Appellant vide RTI application sought information, as under:-

Dissatisfied due to non-receipt of any reply from the CPIO, the appellant approached the FAA.The FAA vide order dated 14.01.2022, furnished a reply to the Appellant, as under:-

Thereafter, the Appellant filed a Second Appeal before the Commission.

HEARING:

Facts emerging during the hearing:

The following were present:

Appellant: The appellant attended the hearing in person.

Respondent: The respondent Shri Pawan Saini, FSO, Food, Supply & CA attended the hearing in person.

The Appellant reiterated the contents of the RTI application and submitted that false and misleading information was provided by the CPIO. The appellant stated that in the year 2016 she applied for a ration card but her Ration Card application has not been accepted till today. The Respondent present during the hearing submitted that a suitable response in accordance with the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005, had already been furnished to the Appellant. The respondent further stated that they follow the first in and first out policy and as per the policy; her number had not come yet. Further, the respondent informed that the number of ration beneficiaries is fixed at 72.78 lac in Delhi and as many as approximately 2,35000 applications seeking ration cards are pending with all the 70 circles in Delhi. This pendency, he said, has been there since the year 2016. He further stated that the new application for issuing ration cards is being disposed at the circle level on the basis of the First in First Out basis/policy of the Department. Moreover, he stated that during the Covid period the exercise of making new ration cards was stopped due to no public interface. However, he said now the circle offices have started approving fresh ration cards which subsequently go to the logo I’D of AC (Distribution) at Head Quarter. But he said these approved ration cards at circle offices could not be processed further at the AC (Distribution) level because of the cap on PDF beneficiaries in Delhi. Further, the respondent informed that currently new ration cards or new beneficiaries are added when vacancies arise owing to the deletion of names in ration cards. Furthermore, It is understood that last year approximately 20,000 beneficiaries’ names were deleted and at this pace it will take around twelve years to dispose of the current pendency of the fresh application of the ration cards at this rate, according to him.

DECISION:

Keeping in view the facts of the case and the submissions made by both parties and after perusal of the documents available on record, the Commission takes serious note of the system of Food Distribution System of the Delhi Government for the lower class in Delhi. That the applications of lakhs of applicants are pending is a matter of great public concern calling for urgent measures for streamlining the system in what affects the lower strata of the society in a place that is none other than the capital of India. The Ration cards are issued by state Governments in India to households that are eligible to purchase subsidized food grain from the Public Distribution System under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). Moreover, under the NFSA, state governments in India have to identify households that are eligible for purchasing subsidized food grain from the Public Distribution System and provide them with ration cards. Proper and target oriented work is needed to be carried out by Delhi Government in this area. The Commission observes that where Governments are running schemes for citizens like:

"One Nation, One Ration Card" is an Aadhaar-based national ration card portability scheme to ensure food security for all, including internal migrants within India, under which beneficiaries can purchase subsidized food anywhere in India. For example, a migrant worker can obtain his share of food in his migrant destination location while his family can obtain their share in their source/native home loc