A fair pricing shop license holder who was utilizing 3 to unlawfully remove ration from 697 ration cardholders was granted relief by the Allahabad High Court last month because the petitioner was unable to provide proof that the ration was actually being given to 697 ration cardholders.

Justice Arun Kumar upheld the petitioner's fair pricing store license cancellation, holding

It is clear that the petitioner has not provided a reasonable explanation for using three Aadhaar cards to withdraw rations for 697 cardholders. Nothing in the record indicates that the 162 affidavits the petitioner produced, acknowledging receipt of necessities from her, are from 697 cardholders whose ration has been withheld by interpolation. The petitioner cannot be prevented from demonstrating that the use of three Aadhaar card numbers for 697 cardholders was not her own choice, even though 162 cardholders accept ration receipts on a regular basis.

An FIR was filed against the petitioner and 21 others under Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 read with Sections 3/7 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 when it was discovered that one Aadhar card was being used to withdraw ration for numerous cards. Due to the black marketing of necessities in the names of 697 cardholders, the petitioner's fair price shop license was revoked.

The petitioner petitioned the High Court to stop her fair pricing shop license from being revoked.

The Court noted that the petitioner had used three Aadhar cards to take rations for 697 cardholders by manipulating the E-PoS machine (Electronic Point of Sale). The Court determined that the petitioner could not adequately address the claim of a server fault.

In Awadhesh Kumar v. State of U.P. and others, the Court stated that a coordinate bench had observed that the E-PoS machine could be manipulated throughout the day since details could be entered and changed while the machine was in dynamic mode and before it was locked in the evening.

"The knowledgeable Single Judge has determined that this swindle was discovered during a time when the manual distribution of necessities was transitioning to the use of E-PoS machines. Taking advantage of the fact that not all of the ration cardholders associated with a specific dealer or shop were fed and seeded while the process was in progress, the dealer interpolated the details using one or two Aadhaar numbers and withheld ration for several cardholders while the distribution of necessities continued.

The Allahabad High Court's ruling in Awadhesh Kumar v. State of U.P. and Others was cited by the court.

"By using electronic devices with beneficiary biometric authentication, the entire effort of both the Central and State Governments was to reduce theft of essential commodities meant for eligible cardholders."

The Court noted that the petitioner had only provided affidavits from 162 cardholders who were genuinely getting benefits, and it concluded that there was no evidence linking these 162 cardholders to the 697 cardholders where interpolation was carried out. Additionally, the writ petition was denied on the grounds that no particular pleading of malafide was made against the State personnel.
 

Case Title: Smt. Shahin Begum and 9 others Versus State of U.P. and 5 others [WRIT - C No. - 37032 of 2019]