Students fed midday meal licked by dog, Chhattisgarh High Court orders state to pay damages

In its order, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Bibhu Datta Guru ordered the state government to pay compensation of Rs 25,000 to the family of affected children, saying it was “negligence on the part of the state”. “…we deem it proper that Rs 25,000 be paid by the State to each of the students of the concerned Middle School, who had consumed the said meal, within a period of one month from today,” the Bench said.

In their statement to the court, the students said that a dog had licked the food being prepared by a Self-Help Group under the government Mid-Day Meal Scheme. They also alleged that they had alerted their teachers, who had in turn warned the SHG but the advice went unheeded.

The court had asked the state government to file an inquiry report on the incident.

On its part, the state government, which contested the compensation claim, had informed the court that the SHG had been dismissed from service, as had some of the school staff – including the school principal, headmaster, and some teachers. It also told the court it had taken several measures for hygiene and quality assessment in the aftermath of the incident.

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