The Shillong Times: Shillong: Saturday, 05 September 2015.
In a relief
to whistleblowers of PDS scams, the High Court of Meghalaya on Friday quashed a
lower court order which restricted those who are not PDS beneficiaries from
lodging complaints.
Earlier in an
order on December 23 last, the court of Additional Deputy Commissioner
(Judicial), A. Ripnar said that only a PDS beneficiary or a member of Consumer
Forum can lodge a complaint regarding PDS anomalies.
The Judge SR
Sen, while quashing the order of the lower court, asked the East Khasi Hills
Deputy Commissioner to institute a probe besides registering a case.
The matter
relates to the alleged anomalies in the distribution of PDS in several areas in
Wahlyngngia under Mawphlang block.
It was CSWO
president Agnes Kharshiing who had filed a petition in the High Court after the
lower court was not keen to give an order to probe the anomalies.
The FIR was
filed following RTI findings which revealed that some of the families of the
village, without their knowledge, possessed more than one ration card of APL,
BPL and AAY and rice, wheat and sugar were being lifted by showing false number
of households, therefore making a wrongful gain by deceiving the villagers by
such manipulation and fraud. The alleged involvement of government officials
was also suspected in the issuance of double/triple ration cards.
Kharshiing
had filed the FIR with Sohiong outpost which is under the jurisdiction of Laban
police station on December 7 last year, but Laban police without registering
the case prepared a report on December 8 stating that since the petitioner was
not the beneficiary of PDS, the case cannot be taken up.
Later, the
court of Additional Deputy Commissioner did not take cognizance of the matter
since the petitioner was not the beneficiary of the PDS.
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