SC raps Pawar for PDS remark

As soon as the apex courts reiteration of the order reached Parliament, the Opposition shouted that the government should comply with the order and forced two adjournments.
The SC told Government Counsel: It was not a suggestion. It was in our order. You tell the minister. A bench comprising justices Dalweer Bhandari and Deepak Verma made the remark pointing to newspaper reports in which Pawar had termed the courts August 12 order as a suggestion.

The court had ordered for free distribution of food grains while considering a Public Interest Litigation filed by the Peoples Union of Civil Liberties. On August 19, Pawar had said that it was not possible to implement the courts suggestion. The issue was raised in the Lok Sabha by Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj in the middle of discussions on the Indian Medicine Central Council (Amendment) Bill.

She demanded the government's compliance of the SC order.  With leaders like Sharad Yadav(JD-U), Mulayam Singh Yadav(SP) and Nageshwar Rao(TDP) also wading in, the entire Opposition joined forces to demand a statement from Sharad Pawar, who was not present in the House.

Later, Pawar told the House in his reply that the government is ready to comply with the Courts order. He said he is yet to receive the copy of the order.

The House also witnessed some heat during the calling attention motion by Harsimrat Kaur on the Food Safety Standards Authority's rejection of 40 lakh tonnes of PAU-209 rice variety.

In its order on Tuesday, the SC directed the government to conduct a fresh survey of  people falling under categories of Below Poverty Line, Above Poverty Line and Antodaya Anna Yojana.  The court reiterated its earlier order that the facility of subsidised food grains should be limited only to the BPL section and if the government is determined to extend the benefit,  it could be given only to those who earn below three lakh  per annum. 

The court further directed the government to take urgent steps to prevent the rotting of grains and said that the Centre should only procure the amount of foodgrain it can preserve.