The Supreme Court verbally observed on Wednesday that persons whose names were removed from the electoral rolls after the special intensive revision exercise in West Bengal would still be entitled to certain welfare benefits, including subsidised ration, Live Law reported.

The court, however, declined to entertain a plea challenging the suspension of the petitioner’s ration card following a June order issued by the West Bengal Department of Food and Supplies. It directed him to approach the Calcutta High Court for relief.

The June order links 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.

It also states that the ration cards of persons deleted from the voter list during the special intensive revision would be marked as inactive.

In his petition, Mohibulla Mondal also sought a direction that his supply of subsidised food grains continue until his appeal against his exclusion from the electoral rolls is decided by the appellate tribunal.

During the hearing, Chief Justice Surya Kant observed that deletion from the electoral rolls would not by itself deprive a person of certain welfare benefits.

“You are entitled to certain benefits,” Live Law quoted Kant as saying. “Go through jurisdictional High Courts, they will grant it."

The Supreme Court also requested the appellate tribunal to decide Mondal’s appeal as early as possible, preferably within two months, before disposing of the petition.

The special intensive revision of voter rolls in West Bengal was carried out before the Assembly elections in April.

Final rolls published in February initially excluded more than 61 lakh voters, with the process continuing through supplementary lists and adjudication of about 60 lakh “doubtful and pending” cases.

By April 6, about 91 lakh voters, nearly 11.9% of West Bengal’s electorate before the revision process began, had been removed from the electoral rolls.

Ahead of the Assembly elections, about 34 lakh appeals were reportedly pending before appellate tribunals. Of these, 27 lakh were filed by persons who were excluded from the voter list. The tribunals, set up as part of the special intensive revision process, had allowed 1,607 names to be added back to the electoral rolls.

What Bengal government order means

The state’s order effectively means that beneficiaries who were marked as absent, shifted, duplicate or dead in the draft voter 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.

In June, a separate Supreme Court bench directed another petitioner, the Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, a farm labourers’ union, to approach the Calcutta High Court after it challenged the West Bengal government’s decision to link ration benefits to exclusion from the electoral rolls under the special intensive revision.

The union had argued that the policy could render between 35 lakh to 60 lakh ration cards inactive.

The organisation had 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.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.