SC seeks states remedies to deal with Food Act

The Supreme Court on Monday sought a response from all states on steps taken for implementation of a grievance redressal mechanism as envisaged under the National Food Security Act.

A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant issued notice to the states as senior advocate Colin Gonsalves sought to raise the issue of starvation death which was denied by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.

The starvation death is an "explosive issue", the bench said, adding it would wait for the response of state governments on the mechanism to deal with complaints of people with regard to non-delivery of food items under the law.

The bench posted the matter for hearing after four weeks, as Mehta contended the government investigated in one state (Jharkhand) and it was found that it was not a starvation death.

Gonsalves, appearing for the People's Union for Civil Liberties and some other activists, alleged that poor people have been denied food in absence of Aadhaar card which was against the apex court guidelines.

Attorney General K K Venugopal also said that the Jharkhand government has denied starvation death as alleged by public-spirited persons like Gonsalves and referred to Section 40 of the Act that mandates every state government to have internal grievance redressal mechanism or nodal officers for effective and expeditious redressal of food grievance.