A bench of justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma repeated its earlier stance that if godowns were overflowing or foodgrains were being destroyed on account of other reasons, there was no reason why the government should not distribute them at subsidised rates to BPL and Antodaya Anna Yojana families. “We are repeatedly requesting you. Please distribute it. You are procuring (foodgrains) at a huge cost. But the storage capacity will be inadequate to cope with the fresh harvest. There are said to be 3,000 malnourishment deaths in the country. It may not be 3,000 but even if it is three deaths in a country like ours, it is a matter of grave concern,” it said.
The court made the remarks after Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium informed that the Centre had decided to distribute 50 lakh tonnes of additional foodgrains to BPL families.