IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE SIXTH DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND FIVE PRESENT THE HON’BLE SRI BILAL NAZKI, THE ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G.CHANDRAIAH WRIT PETITION NO : 14023 of 2005 Between: 1 Y.Raju, s/o late Y.Dasaiah, r/o Kadapa Town, Kadapa District. 2 Jista Saroja, w/o Nagesh, r/o Chityal Village and Mandal, Nalgonda District. 3 Uppala Palli Indramma, w/o Bikshamaiah, r/o Chityal Village and Mandal, Nalgonda District. 4 Siluveru Mallamma, w/o Venkaiah, r/o Chityal Village and Mandal, Nalgonda District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The State of Andhra Pradesh, rep., by its Secretary to Government Food and Civil Supplies Department, Secretariat Buildings, Saifabad, Hyderabad. 2 The Commissioner of Civil Supplies and Ex-Officio Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad. 3 A.P. Technological Services Limited, 4th Floor, B.Block B.R.K.R.Bhavan, Tank Bund Road, Hyderabad rep., by its Managing Director. 4 Lab Call Biometric Technologies (P) Ltd., 8-2-120/1/120/1/1, First Floor, Noor Nagar, Road No.10, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad-34, represented by its Managing Director. 5 Gundal Computers (R) 2671/2-1, Opp:Dental College, MCC-B, Block, Davangere-4 rep., by its Managing Director, Manjunath P.Gundal. 6 COMAT Software Services, Comat Technologies (P) Ltd., 1199- 63/1, 18th Main 5th Block, Rajajinagar, Bangalore-560 010, rep., by its Manager Mahesh Sharma 7 C.S.SOFT WARE Enterprises Ltd., 6-3-680/A/B, 405, Somajiguda, Hyderabad 500 082 rep., by its Director, A.Bhopal Reddy. 8 Bajrang Infotech Systems Pvt.Ltd., Office 2-2-1118/9/A(344) St.No.4, Shivam Road, Beside Bank of Baroda Lane New Nallakunta, Hyderabad-44 rep., by Managing Director V.V.Subrahmanyam. 9 Jyothi Computer Services, 3-4-496/A, 1st Floor Jyothi Arcade, Near P.F.Office Barkatpura, Hyderabad-027, rep., by K.Rami Reddy. 10 Tera Software Limited, 8-3-1113/2B, Kesavanagar, Srinagar Colony, Hyderabad-500 073, rep., by P.Gopichand. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court may be pleased to issue a writ order or direction more one in the nature of writ of mandamus declaring the decision of the 1st respondent in trying replace the existing house hold supply cards in the State with the new House Hold Supply Cards with Iris Technology which is highly expensive and the major portion of the cost of the house hold supply cards have to be born by the beneficiaries as illegal, not feasible, unwarranted for the purpose of achieving the object of removing the existing bogus house hold cards and preventing new bogus cards, and consequently direct the respondents to adopt other methods for achieving the objective of eliminating bogus ration cards instead of trying to achieve the said object by issuing new House Hold Supply Cards with Iris Technology which is highly expensive and unproven Technology. Counsel for the Petitioners:MR.M.SUBBA REDDY Counsel for the Respondents 1 & 2: GP FOR CIVIL SUPPLIES Counsel for Respondent No.4:MR.V.R.AVULA (Caveator) Counsel for Respondents 3, 5 to 10:None appeared. The Court at the stage of admission made the following : O R D E R (Per the Hon’ble Sri Bilal Nazki, ACJ) It appears that the Government has taken a decision to take recourse to latest technology for preparing ration cards to those persons who are entitled to get rations through Public Distribution System. This policy has been devised in order to see that the bogus ration cards are out of currency and there is no chance of having any bogus cards in future. The cardholders are required to pay an amount of Rs.40/- per card. The petitioners contend that the State Government would be spending an amount of Rs.120 crores on preparation of these cards and the expenditure so incurred would be disproportionate to the benefits, the Government wants to derive from the said Scheme. This Court would not be in a position to sit in judgment over the policy framed by the Government with a laudable purpose of eliminating chances of any bogus ration cards. We do not find any merit in the writ petition, which is accordingly dismissed. No order as to costs. ___________________ (BILAL NAZKI, ACJ) 6th July, 2005. ___________________ (G.CHANDRAIAH,J) vrn To 1 The State of Andhra Pradesh, rep., by its Secretary to Government Food and Civil Supplies Department, Secretariat Buildings, Saifabad, Hyderabad. 2 The Commissioner of Civil Supplies and Ex-Officio Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad. 3 Two C.Cs to the G.P.for Civil Supplies, High Court Buildings, A.P., Hyderabad (OUT) 4 Two C.D copies.