AP ePds Civil Supplies New Control Order 2018 vide GO.Ms.No.15, dated:01.08.2018

Andhra Pradesh State Targeted Public Distribution System (Control) Order, 2018 in G.O.Ms.No.15 C.A.,F. & C.S. (CS.I) Dept., dated:01.08.2018.
The Government of AP, Vijayawada has Latest Control order for Andhra Pradesh State Targeted Public Distribution System (Control) Order, 2018 vide G.O.Ms.No.15 C.A.,F. & C.S. (CS.I) Dept., dated:01-8-2018, to improve the delivery mechanism in P.D.S under new circumstances

Important Points and new rules in A.P.S.T.P.D.S.(Control) Order, 2018 

• The Joint Collector or any officer authorized by Govt., is appointing authority and has to appoint FP shop dealers as recommended by the Committee in Annexure.II (J.C. Chairman, P.D.(DRDA), RDO of concerned division Members and DSO as Member convener)   (Cl.2e).
• Eligible households shall be identified by verifying with Pulse survey data only  [Cl.3 (1) ]
• Eldest women above 18 years of age as far as possible shall be the head of the family. [Cl.4 (a 2 ) ]
• Any person aggrieved denying the issue of ration card or cancellation of ration card may appeal to the D.G.R.O. with in 30 days. [Cl.4 (a 4) ]
• The Appellate Authority i.e., State Food Commission shall as far as practicable, dispose the petition within 30 days [Cl.4 (a 4) ]
• Scheduled commodities shall be provided in case of Bio metric failure cases, to the beneficiary, through the authentication of Deputy Tahsildar (Civil Supplies) / Mandal Civil Supplies Officer (MCSO) or Village Revenue Officer concerned or authority as specified by Government [Cl.4 (c 3) ]
• Any beneficiary may submit her/ his grievance relating to non supply of entitled commodities, weighment, prices and scale of distribution to the concerned authority and District Grievance Redressal Officer for taking action [Cl.4 (c 7) ]
• Guidelines on movement of scheduled commodities upto FP shops [Cl.5]
• Before taking delivery of food grains from the designated depots and other scheduled commodities from the suppliers, an officer of the State Government and In-charge of the designated depot shall jointly inspect the stocks to ensure that the stocks conform to the prescribed quantity and quality specifications under Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011. [Cl. 5 (e) ]
• The MLS Point In-charge shall monitor the delivery of stocks till reaches the fair price shops and obtain online authentication of receiving stocks by the Fair Price Shop dealer in Supply Chain Management. [Cl. 5 (n) ]
• The PMU (Project Monitoring Unit) shall setup at District Manager’s Office to monitor the Supply Chain Management on real time basis. [Cl. 5 (t) ]
• In case of failure of Bio-metric authentication, the FP shop dealer has to report to the Nodal Officer. (Tahsildar / Circle ASO)  [Cl.4 e]
• The Collector (CS) shall furnish a monthly certificate confirming delivery of food grains to FP shops and distribution to eligible households [Cl.4 f ]
• FP shop dealer shall give monthly certificate with the authentication of two or more persons such as local authority, Members of Vigilance Committees etc. [Cl.4 g ]
• Scheduled commodities should not be supplied to the FP shop dealers beyond the validity of authorization. [Cl.7 ]
• The Collector (CS) may allow the FPS dealers to sell different goods in addition to the scheduled commodities supplied under PDS under Village Mall scheme [Proviso to Cl.7 (3) ]
• Trade deposit @ Rs.25,000/-  in Urban areas and Rs.20,000/- in Rural areas. [Cl.8(2)]
• The Joint Collector should make alternate arrangements for distribution of commodities in case of vacant FP shops under portability. In exceptional cases, where there is no near by FPS dealer, public bodies / institutions may be permitted to distribute the commodities upto a period of (3) months or till appointment of regular dealer which ever is earlier [Cl.8 (5) ].
• Validity of Authorization is for (2) years ending 31st March. Authorization fee is Rs.1000/-. [Cl.8 (11) ]
• FPS dealer should apply for renewal of authorization one month before expiry of validity with fee Rs.500/- and Fee for duplicate authorization Rs.200/- [Cl.8 (11) ]. 
• Applications received for renewal of authorization beyond 28th / 29th of February and authorizations for which applications were not received should stand cancelled and entire security deposit automatically be forfeited. All those vacancies should be filled within a month. [ Cl.8 (11 c) ].
• FP shop working hours are from 8 am to 12 noon and 4 pm to 8 pm. [ Cl.8 (14) ]
• Any FPS dealer has not opened the shop on working days, the  appointing authority may impose penalty of Rs.1000/- for one day, Rs.1500/- for (2) days, Rs.2000/- for (3) days and for four and above days, authorization may be suspended. The appointing authority may cancel the authorization of such fair price shop dealer duly following the procedure [Cl.8 (14) ].
• The following violations are treated as grave offenses and attract the provisions of law under Section 420 Criminal Procedure Code. [Cl.10]
• (1) Non opening of FP shop,
• (2) Closing of voice over facility in e-PoS device or changing the language
• (3) Non-issue of receipts intentionally to the consumers
• (4) using tins, vessels, stones (stamped or un-stamped), etc., while distribution commodities through e-PoS with electronic weighing scale
• (5) delivering commodities with pre-weighed pack putting on electronic e-weighing scale
• (6) giving money without distributing the PDS commodities, after taking bio-metric/iris authentication from the cardholder
• Inspecting officer should file a complaint under Section 7 of Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and provisions of Criminal Procedure Code before Station House Officer to lodge Criminal Case besides seizure of commodities and filing complaint under Section 6-A of Essential Commodities Act,1955. [Cl.10]
• Person other than the family members should not be allowed to distribute scheduled commodities.  If any person found distributing the scheduled commodities, he /she should be treated as Benami (Condition 17 a of Authorization). 
• The authorization of such shop shall liable for cancellation besides initiating action under Section6A of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (seizure of available commodities in the shop) and Section 7 of Essential Commodities Act, 1955, the provision of Cr.P.C. [Cl.12 a]
• The fair price shop dealer should authenticate receipt of stocks from the MLS Point, in e-PoS device immediately after receipt of stocks within 24 hours. If any deviation in this regard, liable for punishment under the provisions of this Order . [Cl.12 c]
• Fair Price Shop dealer should issue e-PoS generated bill to beneficiaries on supply of commodities. In respect of non e-PoS enabled fair price shop, the dealer should issue manual receipt  [Cl.12 g ] 
• The Fair Price Shop dealer should  display the following information on a notice board updating daily in Telugu/ English languages: [Cl.12 i ]
• (1) List of Cardholders
• (2) Entitlement of scheduled commodities,
• (3) Scale of issue,
• (4) Retail issue prices,
• (5) Timings of opening and closing of the fair price shop,
• (6) O.B., Stock receipt and C.B.
• (7) Grievance redressal authority details with phone number
• (8) display of samples of food grains being supplied
• (9) Fair price shop / authorization number and reference and validity
• FP shop dealer should not tamper the records, spoil the electronic devices, use the SIM cards for other than transactions of P.D.S., blocking cameras and blocking connectivity to e-weighing scales etc. [Cl.12 q ]
• FP shop dealer should not resort any activity to show as commodities are drawn by the beneficiary with malafide intention by any means including technical support. [Cl.12 r ].
• Ration card should not be cancelled for non drawl of scheduled commodities from the fair price shop for any reason. [Proviso to Cl.18 a]
• Prohibition against applying for fresh/duplicate ration card or misuse of commodities [Cl.19]
• Dishonestly applied for or receive a ration card obtaining a card by furnishing false information Alter / destroy a ration card 
• Resort to resale the PDS commodities, leading to recycling  / changing of quality, exchange etc.
• Purchase of rice intended for PDS either from cardholder / FP shop dealer / Middle men or other source and they should be liable for criminal action and imposition of penalty as may be fixed by the competent authority.
• In any cardholder is found to have misused the PDS commodities, he / she shall be liable for criminal action besides cancellation of ration card.
• In case of involvement of rice miller or his person, their payments for CMR deliveries should withhold to the extent of cost of such stocks besides criminal action and imposition of penalty as may be fixed by the competent authority.
• Power of entry, inspect, search and seizure of scheduled commodities [Cl.20 ]
• Found any vehicle involved in diversion of scheduled commodities, the Inspecting authority should also send a report to the concerned RTA official for cancellation of driving license of the driver and goods carrier certificate.[Cl 20 (j) ]
• On receipt of report from the Inspecting authority on involvement of possession of PDS rice or found PDS rice in the premises of  rice mill, the Collector / Joint Collector should order for disconnection of electricity connection of such rice mill forever, block list the rice mill for taking paddy under CMR besides criminal action. [Cl.20 m].
• If any fair price shop dealer diverts PDS stock either wholly or partly, he/ she should be liable for cancellation of authorization besides penalty ten times the difference between the market rate and TPDS rate of the commodity thus diverted. [Cl.21 c ]
• The District Collector should act as appellate authority against the orders of the Joint Collector denying issue / renewal /cancellation of authorization of the FP shop dealer [Cl.24 b]
• Revision powers lies with the Civil Supplies Commissioner / Government. [Cl.24 e ]
• FP shop dealer should pay the cost of commodities by 16 to 18th of preceding month of allocation month or as ordered by Commissioner of Civil Supplies [Cl.25 a ] 
• The inspecting authorities (ASO/MCSO) should inspect all Fair Price Shops 100% in their jurisdiction in distribution cycle every month [Cl.25 g ]
• The Collector (Civil Supplies) should furnish the utilization certificate for the quantity actually utilized against the allocation made duly signed by him to the Commissioner of Civil Supplies every month within a period of one month from the month for which the allocation is made. [Cl.25 h ]
• The team of Vigilance Committee of Mandal and Fair Price Shop level members inspect the Fair Price Shop soon after the lifting of scheduled commodities by the Fair Price Shop dealers and acknowledge the stocks in the electronic Point of Sale through e-KYC at Fair Price Shop Level.
• Local bodies at appropriate level, i.e. Panchayat, Mandal Parishad and Zilla Parishad, Municipal council, Corporation etc., shall review the functioning of Vigilance committees and provide necessary directions for their effective functioning [Cl.26 f ]
• Every authorized dealer intending to stop the business should give 30 days prior notice to the appointing authority. (Con.19 of form of Authorization)
• FPS dealer should not sell scheduled commodities obtained from sources other than the Government agency (APSCSCL) or agency appointed by  Govt./Collector.  (Con.17 b of form of Authorization)