New Delhi, Apr 28 (IANS): The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the city government to ensure that ration shops are open and operational on all seven days.

"We observe that, the distress caused to the residents of the city, by the ongoing lockdown imposed in order to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus, has been further aggravated by the stated denial of access to food grain to the poor, under-privileged and marginalised sections of the population," said a division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh while hearing the matter through video conferencing.

The court also directed the the Delhi government shall also ensure that food grains are distributed to the poor, needy and marginalised non-PDS residents from the PDS, as well as other distribution centres stated to be set-up by them, for the said purpose.

"The GNCTD shall further ensure that the Sub-Divisional Magistrates of each district carry out strict and regular monitoring and oversight of the distribution of food grains, as afore directed and upload the details of shop-wise distribution of ration to both the PDS and non-PDS residents on their official website, at the end of each day, it added.

The bench further asked the state government to widely publicise and circulate the information regarding the compliance of the court's direction through the print and electronic media, on a daily basis.

The observations came in while the court was hearing a application filed by NGO Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan seeking directions to the AAP government to ensure no one goes hungry for want of food on technical grounds like want of proper identity or ration card during the COVID-19 lockdown.

During the course of hearing, Delhi government's counsel Anuj Aggarwal argued that the authorities are not only providing cooked meals but also dry ration to the needy persons.

"We are feeding nearly 10 lakh people with cooked meals at various relief centres," Aggarwal told the bench further.

The plea filed by the NGO through senior advocate Sanjay Parekh has also sought directions to the Delhi government to "continue providing mid-day meals in all government schools".

"Various food programs, under National Food Security Act, are the only lifeline for such people and therefore, it is crucial that such schemes work properly," the plea said.