HC issues notices to TS over bad quality of midday meals

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court took cognisance of a news report published in these columns about substandard food being served in government schools as part of the midday meal scheme and issued notices to the Telangana government directing it to respond within four weeks, duly furnishing reasons for paltry budgetary allocation to the scheme.

The High Court converted a letter written by an Osmania University student, Bagkekar Akash Kumar, along with the news item which appeared in Deccan Chronicle with the headline ‘Kids get broken, rice watery dal’ (April 6) as a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL).

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili adjudicated the PIL on Wednesday.

The report drew attention to the fact that curries prepared in schools were diluted by adding water due to which the original taste was lost. For this reason, students skipped meals and low quality of rice distributed through the public distribution system (PDS) added to their woes.

The state government pays Rs 4.97 per primary class student for a midday meal, Rs 7.45 for each upper primary and high school student. When the government provides Rs 18 subsidy to the  Annapurna meals @ Rs 5 at various locations, how could it allot a meagre budget to the children who need more nutritious food, according to the report and the letter addressed to the High Court by the student.

The High Court made the Chief Secretary of Telangana, principal secretaries of school education and finance, secretaries of school education and child welfare as respondents and issued notices to them to file a counter explaining the government contentions within four weeks.