Government of Rajasthan

1 · Short title and commencement- (1) These rules may be called the Rajasthan Food Security Rules, 2023. (2) They shall come into force from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette. 2. Definitions - (1) In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires; (a) "Abeyance List" means, the list of such eligible households, by which, fodgrains have not been received, except by the preceding 12 months of the current month; "Act" means the National Food Security Act, 2013 (Central Act No. 20 of 2013); "Agency" means the Food Corporation of India, Authorized Fair Price Shop keeper and Rajasthan State Food Civil Supplies Corporation; "Agent" means any person who has been authorized by any party for submission of appeal or reply before the Commission; "Chairperson' means Chairperson of the Rajasthan State Food Commission; "Competent Authority" means the Collector or any other officer authorised by the State Government to issue authorisation letter under th.e Rajasthan Food and Other Essential Commodities (Regulation of Distribution) Order; 1976 and in relation to government employees, the appointing authority of employee concerned "Complaint" means complaint received whether in writing O electronically O orally received through telephone helpline number; (h) "Delivery Receipt" means print out of a transaction through PoS Machine for distribution of foodgrains and other essential articles, on which the transaction date and time, distributed

4 · Internal grievance redressal mechanism - (1) For the redressal of complaints in the form of internal grievance redressal mechanism under section 14 of the Act, the Enforcement Officer or Inspector of the Department, District Supply Officer; Divisional Consumer Protection Officer or any other officer, as may be notified by the State Government, shall be the nodal officer for the implementation of the Targeted Public Distribution System in their respective jurisdiction: (2) The State Government '$ centralised grievance redressal system Rajasthan Sampark shall work as the internal grievance redressal mechanism to lodge complaint regarding the distribution of foodgrains entitlement under the Chapter-II of the Act: 3) The online complaint may be made through the Rajasthan Sampark Center free of cost. The Citizen Call Center of the Rajasthan Sampark's helpline number shall register complaints through telephone free of cost: On receipt of the complaint electronically o through the telephone at the Citizen Call Center, the complainant shall be given a unique complaint number electronically or through mobile message. (5) Any person may file complaint in writing o through e-mail to the respective Nodal Officer: After receipt of complaint, the Nodal Officer shall register the complaint and give a unique complaint number to such complaint: The unique complaint number shall be intimated to the complainant (6) The Nodal Officer; in accordance with sub-rule (2), (3) and (4), shall receive, monitor and redress all complaints received personally or electronically or received through the Rajasthan Sampark portal or telephone helpline setup for the purpose. The Nodal Officer shall redress the complaint within 15 days of receiving the complaint and shall inform the Complainant in writing regarding the decision or action taken: Provided that if any person aggrieved with the decision or action taken by the Nodal Officer, he may file an appeal to the District Grievance Redressal Officer:

5 · External Grievances Redressal Mechanism and District Grievance Redressal Officer.-

6 · Procedure for registration of complaints with District Grievance Redressal Officer:- (1) Any aggrieved person regarding the distribution of foodgrains under Chapter-II of the Act, may file complaint to the District Grievances Redressal Officer. (2) The complaint must contain brief description of the grievance, name, address and contact information of the Complainant: No anonymous complaint shall be entertained: (3) Where the complainant is unable to file the complaint in writing, the District Grievance Redressal Officer shall provide all reasonable support to such person to file the complaint. (4) After receipt of a complaint in the office of the District Grievance Redressal Officer; the receipt of such complaint shall be given to the complainant.

7 · . Procedure for disposal of grievances received by the District Grievance Redressal Officer:- (1) After receipt of complaint, the District Grievance Redressal Officer shall verify whether there is a prima- facie substance in the complaint to proceed in the matter_ (2) If the District Grievance Redressal Officer is satisfied that there is prima-facie substance in the complaint, he shall seek explanation in the matter from concerned officer Or person or agency along with relevant documents. The requisite explanation and documents shall be furnished by the concerned officer/person/agency to the District Grievance Redressal Officer; within seven days. (3) After considering the explanation of concerned officer OT person Or agency and the available documents, if the District Grievance Redressal Officer is satisfied with the veracity of the grievance, he may issue notice to all parties in the matter and fix a date, time and place for the hearing: The District Grievance Redressal Officer may also, at the request of the parties O suo moto, adjourn the proceedings to some other date with or without cost. 4) On the date fixed for hearing; under sub-rule (3), the District Grievance Redressal Officer shall hear the parties and record the evidence. After hearing the parties and considering the evidence, the District Grievance Redressal Officer shall pass an order within thirty days from the date of receipt of the complaint: Provided that on the date fixed for hearing, if the complainant or defending party is absent; the District Grievance Redressal Officer may dismiss O proceed to enquire the matter ex-parte, as he thinks fit: (5) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-rule (4), if the District Grievance Redressal Officer is of the opinion that the matter needs to be further investigated, he may direct any officer not below the rank of inspector of the department to investigate the matter and to submit a report: The District Grievance Redressal Officer after considering the report so received shall decide the matter within forty-five days from the date of receipt of the complaint (6) The complainant shall be informed about the decision o his complaint, in writing or through electronic mode which includes the mobile messages. If the District Grievance Redressal Officer is of the opinion that the disposal of the complaints requires more time than the time prescribed under the aforesaid sub-rules, he shall send the interim reply to the Complainant along with reasons for the delay, but such cases shall be decided by the District Grievance Redressal Officer within a period of sixty days from the date of receipt of the complaint

8 · Powers of District Grievance Redressal Officer:- (1) The District Grievance Redressal Officer; while enquiring into complaints, shall have powers to require from any officer; person Or agency to, (i) produce before him, and allow to be examined such books, accounts, documents or any other material in custody Or under control of the persons SO required as may be specified in the requisition; (ii) furnish such information as may be required. 2) While deciding a complaint; the District Grievance Redressal Officer may recommend the action to be taken by the competent authority against; (i) the fair price shop owner under the Rajasthan Food and Other Essential Articles (Regulation of Distribution) Order; 1976; and (ii) the employee of the Government under the Rajasthan Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal), 1958.

10 · Appeal against the order passed by the Nodal Officer District Grievance Redressal Officer:- (1) Any person aggrieved by an order passed by the Nodal Officer District Grievance Redressal Officer, may appeal, within thirty days from the date of receipt of such order; (i) to the District Grievance Redressal Officer, if the order is made by the Nodal Officer; and (ii) to the Food Commission; if the order is made by the District Grievance Redressal Officer: Provided that the appeal may be entertained by the Appellate Authority after expiry of the said period of thirty days, ifhe is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for such delay. (2) No order shall be passed under this rule, which adversely affects any person unless such person has been given a reasonable opportunity of being heard: (3) During the pendency of the appeal, the appellate authority may pass such interim order as he thinks fit:

11 · Disclosure of records of Targeted Public Distribution System.- The following records shall be displayed on the website or web-portal of the department and kept open for inspection in the office of local authority: - (i) Guidelines notified by the State Government for identification of eligible Priority households; (ii) The district wise final list of the eligible households, showing the category-wise names of eligible households and their members; (iii) The entitlements of Foodgrains, scale of issue and retail issue price to the beneficiaries; (iv) Details of the Fair Price Shops in the state, districts, block etc. Policy Directives issued by the State Government for effective and efficient implementation of the Act; and (vi)Any other record which is considered by the Secretary to Government in-charge of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department.

12 · Dates, duration and dissemination for conducting the social audit - (1) Every year at least two social audit meetings shall be held on the 26 January and 15 August: (2) In the event of social audit not being held on the scheduled date, the next meeting of the social audit shall be held within a maximum period of fifteen days from such scheduled date, after proper dissemination of meeting of the date (3) The period of the social audit shall be half-yearly. The duration of which shall be from January to June and July to December for each year: 4 Records of the period of the preceding half-year mentioned in Form-4 shall be placed for social audit in the meeting: 5) In every gram panchayat; social audit meeting shall be convened alongwith the Gram Sabha meeting held on the 26 January and 15 August of each year: (6) Proper dissemination of social audit shall be done at the local level through members of the Fair Price Shop Level Vigilance Committee, Fair Price Shopkeepers and the District Supply Officer to ensure proper participation of the beneficiaries in the meeting:

13 · Appointment and responsibility of Nodal Incharge:- (1) Panchayat-wise Nodal Incharge shall be appointed by the concerned Sub-Division Officer of the area one month before the date of social audit:

14 · Obligations of certain officers and persons in relation to the social audit - (1) The District Supply Officer or an officer appointed by him shall ensure that- (i) the records of Form-4 for conducting social audit have been made available to the concerned nodal in-charge; (ii) remedial measures have been taken on the previous social audit report; and (iii) action has been taken for distribution of foodgrains etc. to the deprived beneficiaries of the list and appropriate action for the contravention of law has been taken against fair price shopkeepers. 2 The Block Development Officer shall provide all necessary assistance for the social audit (3) The Village Development Officer shall be present during the social audit meeting related to his area and responsible for proper conduct of the social audit meeting: All the fair price shopkeepers of Gram Panchayat shall be present in the Gram Sabha related to their area during social audit and answer the questions asked to him: (5) All members of fair price shop level vigilance committee shall work as resource persons for conducting the social audit.

15 · Social audit process - Following steps shall be taken for conduct of social audit; namely:- the preceding social audit report shall be read out at the beginning of the meeting and informed about the action taken on the report; (ii) the information regarding the eligibility and ineligibility criteria of households, retail issue price and quantity of foodgrains to be distributed on ration card shall be given and same shall be verified; ii) the latest updated list of eligible households shall be read and pasted at the venue of meeting; iv) the month wise details of foodgrains allocated, received and distributed and quantity remaining with the fair price shop keepers during the period of the preceding half-year shall be read; the Targeted Public Distribution System shall be verified by questioning the stakeholders about the working of fair price shopkeepers; and vi) the social audit report shall be prepared in Hindi language and displayed on the notice board of the Gram Panchayat:

16 · Dispatch of the report of the social audit and process of action:- (1) The Nodal Incharge shall record the recommendations and suggestions received during the social audit meeting in Form-S and send the report to the concerned Block Development Officer in seven days The Block Development Officer shall compile the report of all the panchayats and send it to the Sub-Division Officer. The Sub-Division Officer 6

17 · Composition of Vigilance Committee.- (1) For ensuring transparency and proper functioning of the Targeted Public Distribution System and accountability of the functionaries in such system; there shall be Vigilance Committees at the State, District, Block and Fair price shop levels.

18 · Powers and functions of the State Level Vigilance Committee - (1) The area of work of the State Level Vigilance Committee shall be the whole of the State of Rajasthan. The committee shall regularly monitor the implementation of the provisions of food security under the Act: It shall be a standing vigilance committee for proper implementation and effective monitoring of the Act at the State Level. (2) Tenure of the nominated members shall be two years but in the event of nominated member being insolvent, convicted in the criminal case O physically O mentally unable to perform his duty O misusing his power may be removed before such tenure of two years by the State Government. (3) The State Level Vigilance Committee shall review the functions performed by the District; Block and Fair Price Shop Level Vigilance Committees 4 The State Level Vigilance Committee shall also have the powers to take action o the complaints of irregularities, directly received by it. The final decision in each case shall be made by the Chairperson of the State Level Vigilance Committee The State Level Vigilance Committee may make necessary recommendations to the State Government: The State level Vigilance Committee meeting shall be held at least once in a quarter of the calendar year: In the event of not being able to conduct a meeting in a quarter, such meeting shall be held in the first month of the upcoming quarter: (7) The quorum for the meeting of the State Level Vigilance Committee shall be 1/3 of the total number of members. In absence of quorum the meeting shall be adjourned to the next date and no quorum shall be required for such adjourned meeting: (8) The minutes of the meeting of the State Level Vigilance Committee shall be recorded and maintained and uploaded on the departmental web portal and shall be sent to the concerned District Collector District Supply Officer and Departmental Officers for compliance with the decisions

19 · Powers and functions of the of District, Block and Fair Price Shop Level Committees. (1) Tenure of the nominated members shall be two years but in the event of nominated member being insolvent; convicted in the criminal case or physically o mentally unable to perform his duty o misusing his power may be removed before such tenure of two years by the District Collector o Sub-Divisional Officer, as the case may be. (2) Vigilance Committees shall, monitor and evaluate the implementation of this Act; in relation to their area; (ii) participate in the social audit; (iii) inform the District Grievance Redressal Officer, in writing, regarding irregularities committed in implementation of Public Distribution System or misconduct of Fair price shop keeper mentioned in Schedule-2; (iv) monitor the allocation, door step delivery and distribution of foodgrains to Fair Price Shops; ensure that the sample is displayed at the fair price shops to check the quality of the wheat supplied; pay special attention to ensure the distribution of foodgrains to eligible households in remote and hilly areas; (vii) review the list from time to time, preparing reports for the inclusion of deprived eligible households and expulsion f ineligible households; and (viii) recommend for cancellation of bogus fake ration cards.

1 · 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8_

1 · Storage of foodgrains and other essential items at a location other than the designated place. 2. Refusal for the sale of foodgrains and other essential Articles to any eligible household at the time of opening the shop, on presenting the ration card to them, to the extent of the ration card outstanding: 3 . Selling of foodgrains at a price higher than that prescribed in the Act 4. Non display of stock and price of foodgrains and other essential items at Fair Price Shop. 5. Not adhering to the time of opening the shop prescribed by the State Government or irregular opening of the shop. 6. Not allowing the Nodal Incharge and its associates or vigilance committee members appointed for social audit for inspection of the stock and records at the shop: 7_ Not keeping food and other essential items in good condition or adulterating with any other inferior variety. 8. Non display of foodgrains samples at the shop. 9_ Deliberately non delivery of receipt of point of sale machine at the time of distribution to eligible households. 10. Making false entries in the ration cards presented to the eligible households at the time of distribution. 11. Less weighing measuring of foodgrains and other essential articles. 12. Use of unauthorised weighing instruments for distribution of foodgrains and other essential articles 13. Seeding an Aadhaar number in oe O more ration cards and making false entries in the records to show distribution of any foodgrains or essential commodities for personal gain. 14. Forced sale of other items along with foodgrains Or other essential items. 15. Misbehaving with the ration card holder at the time of delivery: 16. Intentionally damaging or destroying a pos machine.

1 · Non-door step delivery of foodgrains to Fair Price Shopkeepers. 2_ Failure to provide physical supply of foodgrains to the fair price shop till the end of the preceding month of the allotment month and in any case after the first week of the allotment month: 3 . Not delivering quantity aS per allocation to Fair Price Shopkeepers. 4. Failure to deposit the amount with the Food Corporation of India in a certain time period for lifting of the quantity of foodgrains of the allocation month: 5_ Foodgrains released from Food Corporation of India godowns to be replaced by lower quality stock before being supplied to fair price shops. 13

8 · Tand all my family members total annual income does not exceed one lakh rupees. (9) I and all my family members owned total agricultural land area does not exceed the limit prescribed for small farmers_

1 · Number of public representatives and citizens present in the social audit

4 · Details of total fair price shopkeepers working in the area- S.No. Name Fair Price Shopkeeper & Address PoS Machine Number

5 · Details of fair price shopkeepers who did not bring the record 6. Whether the month-wise details of the allocated quantity, quantity received, distribution quantity, number of transactions and quantity remaining of foodgrains for every fair price shop during the preceding six months have been read out? Yes No

7 · . Details of discussion regarding distribution work of fair price shopkeepers

8 · Brief description of recommendations / suggestions received in social audit

1 · . Details of social audit meetings convened in Panchayat Samiti in subdivision-

3 · . Details of attached Form -4,