Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran, appearing for the Union Food Ministry, said both the Centre and the states agreed on the principle to supply food grains to BPL families at 35 kg per month, but the “quarrel” between them is “who is the BPL family”.
In fact, the ASG told a Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma that the Centre has been following the 35-kg “principle” for distributing food to BPL consumers since April 2002.
The central law officer, however, chose not to directly answer the court’s query whether the Centre would be willing to aid the states with food supply if they identify the exact number of BPL families each have.
Instead, the ASG sought to put the blame of food wastage on the states, illustrating how in Punjab and Haryana 55,121 tons of food grains rotted in the past one year due to the “pathetic plight of storage” in the two states.
Another 12,068 tons were wasted in the Food Corporation of India (FCI) go-downs in the two states, advocate Colin Gonsalves pointed out to show that the Centre should also share the blame of food storage.
“Over 67,000 tons food grains wasted in only two states when people are dying of hunger,” the court observed.
An affidavit filed by ministry on Monday said the National Advisory Council is “actively considering” a law to address the “entire issue of food security, including entitlement of food grains, prices, etc”.
Hearing will continue on Tuesday.