Kerala lets ineligible priority ration card holders move to the general category without penalty

12 November 2026

Kerala's Food and Civil Supplies Department has given holders of priority ration cards who are no longer eligible a chance to move to the general category without penalty until 8 December. Yellow and pink card holders who are government, semi-government or teaching staff, employees of public sector and cooperative institutions, service pensioners, income tax payers, families earning over Rs 25,000 a month, households with more than one acre of land, those in a house or flat above 1,000 sq ft, and owners of a four-wheeler must surrender the priority card. Part-time and temporary staff, Fourth Class retirees, pensioners drawing below Rs 5,000, freedom fighter pensioners below Rs 10,000 and taxi-dependent four-wheeler owners are exempt. Applications go to the Taluk Supply Office with the original card, the head of family's Aadhaar and the category-change form. After the deadline, anyone found ineligible must pay the market value of the grain already taken.