NEW DELHI/ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Supreme Court rejected the state government's appeal that they cannot pay the 10-month commission arrears to ration traders for the free food kits distributed through ration shops during the Covid-19 pandemic. Government had approached the Supreme Court against the High Court verdict. As soon as the petition was heard yesterday, the bench comprising justices BV Nagaratna and Prashanth Kumar Mishra stated that they cannot intervene in the matter. With this, the government will have to pay the arrears from September 2020 to June 2021.

The High Court order was to pay the commission dues by March 31. The government filed an appeal on April 15, without filing an appeal within that deadline. In the appeal, the government had stated that the distribution of free food kits during Covid was a humanitarian service. The government was of the view that the distribution of kits through ration shops should be treated as voluntary service and cannot be treated as salaried work and therefore the traders are not eligible for commission.

The distribution of the free kit was decided during the lockdown in April 2020. At that time, the ration traders were given a commission of five rupees per kit, which was later increased to seven rupees. During Onam that year too, five rupees was paid for each kit distributed. The scheme was extended from September 2020 to June 2021 but the commission of five rupees each was not paid. The ration traders approached the High Court against this and obtained a favorable verdict.

42.5 crore is required

42.5 crores is required to settle the commission arrears. Finding this in the current financial situation will be an additional liability for the government. Even the monthly commission is often delayed at present. 25 to 33 crores as monthly commission required.