The Court observed that the issue essentially related to whether persons excluded from electoral rolls could be denied welfare benefits under government schemes.
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, an agricultural workers’ organisation, challenging the linking of welfare benefits under the Public Distribution System (PDS) and Annapurna Yojana with classifications emerging from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, to approach the Calcutta High Court.
Questioning the petitioner agricultural workers’ organisation for approaching the Supreme Court invoking its jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution, and sending it to the High Court, a Bench of Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice Joymalya Bagchi observed that the issues raised in the petition constituted an independent cause of action concerning the continuation of the ration card and its linkage with the categories that emerged from the West Bengal SIR.
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The Court observed that the issue essentially related to whether persons excluded from electoral rolls could be denied welfare benefits under government schemes.
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The petition assails a June 4 order issued by the West Bengal Food and Supplies Department and a May 19 notification issued by the Department of Women and Child Development and Social Welfare. According to the petitioner, these measures link eligibility under the PDS and Annapurna Yojana to categories that emerged during the SIR exercise, such as “dead”, “shifted”, “deleted” and “absentee” electors.
The petitioner organisation has contended that if the linkage is implemented mechanically, between 35 lakh and 60 lakh ration cards could become defunct, potentially affecting a large number of beneficiaries dependent on subsidised food grains and welfare benefits.
When the matter was mentioned for urgent listing, advocate Prashant Kumar, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the issue required immediate intervention as similar practice was being followed by other States after the Supreme Court’s recent judgment upholding the constitutionality of the SIR exercise.
The petition further contends that exclusion from the electoral rolls does not determine either economic vulnerability or citizenship status and, therefore, cannot be used as a basis for denying food security benefits. It argues that the impugned measures violate Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution and amount to using data collected for one statutory purpose—electoral revision—for an entirely different purpose, namely, determination of welfare eligibility – a position clarified in the May 27, 2026, SIR judgment.
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