Quashing an order issued by the Uttar Pradesh government that preferred self help groups (SHGs) in the allotment of fair price shops, the Allahabad High Court has stated the order would be counter-productive to the objectives of the public distribution system (PDS).

The state government order was issued on July 7, last year.

A single bench of Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi stated that the impugned government order seeks to create a ‘monopoly’ in favour of the SHGs that generally have a “weak legal identity” for the purposes of fixing accountability.

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Justice Masoodi said that due to the ambiguous legal identity of the SHGs, these groups can possibly worsen the objectives of PDS instead of reforming it.

“The State Government has not projected any clarity in the matter of Self-help groups except that they are granted a unique identity number by some agency known as ‘National Rural Livelihood Development Mission’,” the court said.

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“Mere allotment of a unique ID by National Rural Livelihood Development Mission for the purposes of grant of licence to run a fair price shop on behalf of the State is not enough. Registration of Self-help groups and their functioning under well defined aims, objects and bye-laws coupled with the criteria of credibility are the relevant dimensions to fix accountability,” the High Court remarked.

The court even termed the order as being in violation of of Article 14 of the Constitution which promises the citizens equality before the law.

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“Order is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution, once it excludes the participation of eligible village residents and other juristic persons such as cooperative societies or Gram Panchayats at par with the Self-help Groups,” the court added.