Written by Ruhi Tewari | New Delhi | Posted: December 3, 2014 3:47 am
The NDA government’s decision to relaunch the Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) scheme for LPG subsidy in mid-November, albeit in a modified form, came only after Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi gave his unequivocal go- ahead to it, even as Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar had said re-starting the scheme would be in “clear contempt” of the court.
The UPA government had suspended the Aadhaar-based DBT scheme after a Supreme Court order that the government could not make Aadhaar numbers mandatory for people to avail of the benefits of government services and subsidies, including subsidy for cooking gas.
However, the BJP-led government re-launched the scheme from November 15 this year in 54 districts, but provided an alternative by introducing the option of consumers availing of the subsidy and receiving it directly in their bank accounts, in case they didn’t have Aadhaar numbers, though the latter was kept as the primary option.
This decision came after Rohatgi, in his opinion dated November 11 — four days before the scheme was re-launched — said he was of the “clear view” that last year’s Supreme Court order does not bar the launching of the new scheme as proposed by the government “in view of the alternative provided”. The Attorney General said even though “primacy” was given to an Aadhaar card holder, no beneficiary would be deprived of the benefits even if he/she did not possess one. The opinion went on to say no clearance or permission was required from the Supreme Court before launching the modified scheme and added it could be launched on November 15 as decided by the government.
The Union Cabinet had cleared the scheme on October 18. Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, however, had opined on September 11 that the DBT scheme, if started, will be in “clear contempt”. Kumar had noted that “any action to be taken for restarting the scheme should require the prior approval of the court”.
Government sources claim it is likely that the government did a rethink after the SG’s unfavourable opinion and subsequently introduced the alternative of beneficiaries receiving subsidy directly in bank accounts, if they don’t have Aadhaar numbers.
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/centre-went-ahead-with-dbt-for-lpg-subsidy-after-a-g-nod/#sthash.dPvwnwO7.dpuf