NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday slapped a penalty of Rs 1 lakh on the Meghalaya government for not creating an online link to monitor implementation of the midday meal scheme in government-run schools.
A bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur and comprising Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Hemant Gupta also took on the state government for not complying with the directions of the top court on the issue yet.
The bench asked the state to deposit the amount with the Supreme Court Legal Services Authority within four weeks.
The court took a serious view since the petitioner, an NGO, claimed that children receive free, cooked lunch every day in over 12 lakh government-run and aided schools across the country. But there is a constant risk of food poisoning and related health hazards due to lack of midday meal infrastructure and proper monitoring of the scheme.
Four more states — Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Jammu and Kashmir — were penalised with equal sum of money for the same lacuna whereas Delhi was fined Rs 2 lakh.
This direction came after counsels appearing for the petitioner told the apex court that these states have yet not created a link on their websites as asked by the apex court.
On March 23, 2017, the top court had asked state governments and Union Territories to upload information including the total number of students getting the benefit of the mid-day meal scheme within three months on their websites.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by NGO Antarrashtriya Manav Adhikaar Nigraani Parishad on the issue of mid-day meals.
