Don’t hand over mid-day meal scheme to state: SC tells Centre

The Supreme Court today asked the Centre not to transfer the operation and administration of the mid-day meal scheme to state governments un...

The Supreme Court today asked the Centre not to transfer the operation and administration of the mid-day meal scheme to state governments until further orders.

An interim order was passed by a bench comprising Justices Y.K. Sabharwal, D.M. Dharmadhikari and Tarun Chatterjee. The order came in response to a petition from the People’s Union For Civil Liberties (PUCL), which pointed out starvation deaths and non-implementation of social schemes.

Contending that the scheme had brought many BPL children to school, senior counsel for the petitioner Colin Gonslaves added that if the states assume charge, it would put the entire scheme in jeopardy.

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It was on this submission that the bench passed the order. However, it made it clear that this would not affect the flow of funds from the Centre to the states and also would not hamper its implementation in the states.

The bench directed all state governments to file their replies by October 1 to the Fifth Report of the Commission on the implementation of the social welfare schemes.

It noted that Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Jharkhand, MP, Manipur, Rajasthan, UP and West Bengal were listed as defaulting states and they must file their responses this time.

On hunger deaths in Baran district of Rajasthan, the bench asked the state to file an affidavit by a ‘‘responsible officer’’ with details of the cause of death of 16 children and seven adults in August, 2004. Taking note of the package announced by the state yesterday to help 15,000 Shariya families under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana, the bench called for a reply on how it would implement the scheme.

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The matter has been posted to October 7 for further hearing.

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