New Delhi: The Supreme Court (SC) Tuesday imposed Rs 1 lakh penalty on Odisha and four other states for their failure in creating a link in the designated government website to monitor the implementation and hygiene of mid-day meal (MDM) scheme in government-run schools.
A three-judge bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, Deepak Gupta and Hemant Gupta expressed displeasure over the failure of the state governments in complying with the directions of the apex court.
The bench has imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Jammu & Kashmir and Rs 2 lakh on Delhi.
During the hearing, the counsel appearing for Odisha, Anindita Pujari submitted to the SC that the state government has started transforming the data into the format the court wants.
She further argued that the data is also available on MDM website and application.
However, the top court asked the state to deposit the amount with the Supreme Court Legal Services Authority within four weeks.
The directions came after the petitioner’s counsel submitted that the above mentioned states have not created links on their websites.
The court was hearing a plea filed by Antarrashtriya Manav Adhikaar Nigraani Parishad, an NGO, in 2013 on the issue of noon meals at schools.
The top court had March 23, 2017 asked the state governments and Union Territories to upload information including the number of students covered under the MDM scheme within three months on their websites.
The PIL has stated that children receive free and cooked lunch every day in over 12 lakh government and aided schools across the country, but “they are constantly exposed to the risk of food poisoning and related health hazards due to lack of mid-day meal infrastructure and proper monitoring of the scheme.”