The Supreme Court on Friday pulled up the Centre for delay in the development of software for registration of unorganised workers after Rs 417 crore have been disbursed for it, saying it can't be put on hold forever.
The top court also emphasised that all states must implement one nation-one ration card scheme to allow migrant workers to take ration from a place other than the registered one.
In a suo motu matter related to migrant workers' problems during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Centre sought three to four months for developing a "comprehensive, dynamic and useful National Database for Unorganised Workers (NDUW)".
"The Centre was not conducting any survey etc but only creating a module so that data can be fed into the mechanism," the bench said, as senior advocate Colin Gonsalves contended three years have passed with no progress in the matter.
"What is your project for National Database of Unorganised Workers? 417 crore has been released but not even a module is created. How much time will you take? Process has not even started," the bench asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
The database aims to help them avail benefits of various welfare schemes,
"This can't be left to bureaucracy anymore. Your officers have done nothing. Just because your directors etc don't have time, this can't be put on hold forever," the bench told him.
During the proceedings, the court also asked the West Bengal government to immediately implement 'one nation, one ration card' scheme.
"No excuse will be considered and the state must implement the scheme," the bench said as the state government counsel submitted that there are Aadhaar seeding issues. “You cannot cite one or the other problem. This is for migrant workers," the bench told the counsel.
Maharashtra and Punjab government counsel submitted that they implemented the scheme in their states.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave submitted that there were nearly 2.8 crore migrants without ration cards, and they are under serious difficulty, and they would not be covered under the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana.
The bench noted that the scheme has been extended till November. Dave said the scheme will benefit only those who have ration cards.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta pointed out that 80 crore have been identified under the Garib Kalyan scheme, on which the bench asked what scheme would cover the people who don’t have ration cards.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati replied that the latitude has been given to the states to have schemes for those who do not have ration cards. Dave said that the Centre was trying to pass the burden on states.
Mehta, for his part, said the government’s secretary can have talks with concerned secretaries in the states and come back after a week.
The top court asked the states to file a short response in the matter and reserved the judgment.
Mehta requested the court not to pass an order on the extension of the scheme, as it may have financial ramifications.
The court was hearing an application by activists Harsh Mander, Anjali Bhardwaj and Jagdeep Chhokar, seeking directions to ensure that migrant workers are not deprived of ration and food security, and they should also be able to travel back to their homes at nominal cost.
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