The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to urgently list a petition challenging the decision of the Bharatiya Janata Party government in West Bengal to deny ration benefits to those excluded from the electoral rolls after the special intensive revision exercise, Live Law reported.

A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Joymala Bagchi told the petitioners to approach the Calcutta High Court instead.

The petition was filed by the Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, a farm labourers’ union. The union had challenged a June 4 order by the West Bengal department of food and supplies, and a May 19 notification by the department of women and child development and social welfare, Bar and Bench reported.

The order and the notification link beneficiary status under the public distribution system and the state government’s Annapurna Yojana scheme to an individual’s classification after the special intensive revision exercise.

The petitioners argued that 35 lakh to 60 lakh ration cards could become inactive if the government applies the new eligibility criterion.

The organisation contended that linking ration benefits to the electoral roll revision exercise violated the fundamental rights to equality and life, noting that the court itself had clarified that exclusion because of the special intensive revision would not determine economic vulnerability or the citizenship status of a person, Bar and Bench reported.

However, the bench on Tuesday asked why the petitioners had approached the Supreme Court instead of the High Court.

The counsel for the petitioners said that the matter was of national importance as several states were following the West Bengal government’s precedent, Live Law reported.

However, the court said that any similar decisions by other states constituted different matters.

As per the order by Bengal’s food and supplies department, the ration cards of persons deleted from the voter list during the special intensive revision would be marked as inactive.

This means that beneficiaries who were marked as absent, shifted, duplicate or dead in the draft list published in December would become ineligible under the public distribution system. Those who were removed from electoral rolls in the subsequent supplementary lists would also become ineligible.

Unmapped voters identified during the revision exercise who were excluded after the hearing process and persons removed from the electoral roll after adjudication will also be ineligible under the public distribution system.

However, persons who have filed appeals before the appellate tribunals or submitted their applications under the Citizenship Amendment Act will receive the benefits until the process concludes.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.