ASHISH KUMAR MISRA Vs. BHARAT SARKAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petition has been filed in the public interest by a practising Advocate in order to raise two concerns relating to the issuance of ration cards under the National Food Security Act, 20131. The first issue relates to the validity of the provisions of Section 13 of the Act on the ground that the statutory provision while recognizing the eldest woman member as the head of the household does not contemplate a situation where there may be no woman in the family.

(2.) In order to appreciate this grievance, we extract hereinbelow the provisions of Section 13 of the Act:

(3.) Section 13 forms part of Chapter VI of the Act which has a provision for the empowerment of women. Stipulating that the eldest woman of every eligible household, above the age of eighteen, shall be the head of the household for the purpose of the issue of ration cards is intended to recognize and strengthen the dignity, role and status of women. Parliament gave legal recognition to the significant responsibilities which women as decision makers have in a family. This includes those having a bearing on food security. In enacting Section 13, Parliament recognized the roles and responsibilities which are discharged by women. That role has been conferred with a statutory status and recognition by providing that the eldest woman, above the age of eighteen in a household, shall be regarded as the head of the household. For too long in our history and even today, women have been burdened with the obligation of maintaining home and family without a corresponding recognition or acceptance of their role as decision makers. Subjected to discrimination and domestic violence, a woman is left with no social security. Something as primary as the equal distribution of food within the family for male and female members of the family is a casualty. Recognizing the central role of the woman in issues of food security is an integral part of the constitutional right to gender equality. Some of the worst forms of discrimination against women originate in the home and the kitchen. It was time that the law made an effort to remedy it. The submission that the statute does not account for a situation where there may be no woman in a family, is incorrect. Sub-section (2) of Section 13 of the Act contemplates a situation where a household either does not have a woman at all or where a woman member of an eligible household is yet to attain the age of eighteen. In such a situation, sub-section (2) of Section 13 of the Act provides that the eldest male member of the household shall be the head of the household for the issuance of ration cards. Where a female member of the household is below the age of eighteen, her status as the head of the household, shall upon attaining the age of eighteen, be recognized in terms of sub-section (2) of Section 13 of the Act. In view of these statutory requirements, we find no merit in the first submission.