Delhi govt to penalise fair price shop owners for delay in payment

Fair price shop owners in Delhi who default on payment for wheat and rice allocated to them for distribution to ration beneficiaries will now have to face a penalty that starts with Rs 5,000 and can lead to suspension of their licence, senior government officials said Monday.

According to a government order issued on July 5, such delay in payments “derail” the public food distribution system in Delhi and there are several such “habitual defaulters” who contribute to the problem that eventually causes “inconvenience” to beneficiaries under the public distribution system (PDS) of essential food items.

For defaulter fair price shop owners, the penalty will be Rs 5,000 for the first time, Rs 10,000 for a second offence and suspension of licence for a third offence. In case of suspension of licence, senior government officials said all beneficiaries attached with the fair price shop concerned will be transferred to others in the vicinity. Failure to pay the penalty on time may attract legal action, the order said.

“Several fair price shop licence holders in Delhi have emerged as habitual defaulters when it comes to timely payment of cost of food articles allocated to them for further distribution to beneficiaries of the PDS,” a senior official in Delhi government’s food supplies and consumer affairs department said.

Senior government officials explained that wheat and rice are the two goods listed as specific food articles (SFA) in the public distribution system in Delhi. Every fair price shop gets monthly allocations of SFA, for which they have to make payments to the Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation, which eventually pays in bulk to the Food Corporation of India (FCI).

“The fair price shops do not have to pay the money right away on receiving the food items but they have to do it within the specified time for each allocation,” the senior official said.

He further said, “It was flagged that the FCI had to wait for payment on multiple occasions and further release of food articles were delayed and that ultimately causes inconvenience to ration beneficiaries. Payment defaults derail the complete chain of the PDS.”

First Published: Jul 09, 2019 04:39 IST