Tag Archives: calcutta high court

Assembly Polls, Blog, City News, delhi, elections, Featured, news, Politics, State, states,, Trending News, Video, west bengal

DA Agitation: One lakh people expected to join Saturday’s march in Kolkata, protesters to paralyse Hazra

Leave a comment

The ongoing agitation by state government employees in West Bengal enters 100-days on Saturday. These employees have been siting at the Shahid Minar (Ochterlony Monument) in Kolkata.

The members of the Sangrami Jautha Mancha (the platform) plans to take out a protest march on Saturday (May 6, 2023), against the defiant state government. The march will start from Hazra and travel through Harish Chatterjee Street, Harish Mukherjee Road and culminate at Hazra. “Tomorrow’s agitation will shake the state government. It’s a we expect over one lakh people to participate in tomorrow’s agitation,” Sougata Lahiri, members of Sangrami Jautha Mancha.

Speaking with the representative of Nonsense Talk News in Kolkata, Sanat Jha and Sudhakar Ray, members of Sangrami Jautha Mancha said, “The protest march will have big impact on the West Bengal state government that has been defiant towards us.”

The platform members have decided to continue with their crusade against state government as they say. “DA is our right and we shall get it.” Saturday’s protest march is just another initiative by the agitators to awaken the government that has been defiant towards these employees. “We don’t know if the state government will awake after Saturday’s protest march which is going to be really big but we want to assure all that our agitation will continue as we will see an end to this, Mamata Banerjee may turn a deaf ear and blind eye to our demands but we too vouch to get our demands, till them the agitation will continue,” said Debabrata Mukherjee, member of Sagrami Jautha Mancha.

Blog, City News, Featured, news, Politics, State, states,, Video, west bengal

Mamata Banerjee’s poll ‘lollipop’ ‘Duare Ration’ scheme legally void, says Calcutta HC

Leave a comment

A big setback for Trinamool Supremo and West Bengal state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after the Calcutta High Court imposed a ban on her government’s Duare Ration scheme that was launched in November 2021, as a part of the Trinamool’s election manifesto in the West Bengal Assembly election last year. The scheme had run into huge controversy as people who were supposed to get the advantage of the scheme said they did not get ration or the ration they received was below the standards to be consumed.

Coming down heavily on the state government, the court said, “In view of our discussion supra we are constrained to hold, in fine, that Duare Ration Scheme is ultra vires the National Food Security Act, 2013 and is therefore a nullity in the eye of law”.

The order also mentioned that if the NFS Act is amended by the Parliament for doorstep delivery of food grains, only then such a state can bring such a scheme.

Just after the implementation of the election manifesto by Trinamool government, a petition was filed against the Duare Ration scheme at Calcutta High Court in 2021, terming it to be illegal. However, a single bench had found nothing to be illegal in the scheme and let it continue. The order was challenged.

Under the scheme, vehicles carrying rations reach people’s neighbourhoods and are stationed 500 metres from their residences. The people could collect their rations from these vehicles.

A division bench of Justices Chitta Ranjan Dash and Aniruddha Roy held that the Duare Ration scheme is “ultra vires of the National Food Security (NFS) Act, 2013” and “is, therefore, a nullity in the eye of the law.” It added that the scheme has “no legal validity.”

A large number of fair price dealers moved court and pointed out that it would be difficult to implement the scheme. The Calcutta High Court, however, dismissed the case. Later, a section of ration dealers filed a fresh case before a division bench.

Under the scheme, each ration dealer was allowed to appoint at least two people to help them deliver rations to the citizens. Half of the salary of these workers was to be paid by the state government.

The order stated that no state government can supply ration to doorstep. It added that the scheme has “no legal validity”.