The Madras High Court has sought a response from the Tamil Nadu Government on the steps proposed to be undertaken by it to ensure that children in the state, who have suffered on account of closure of schools due to the Covid-19 pandemic, are provided adequate food and nourishment.
While observing that the matter needs immediate urgent attention and for this purpose, issued notices to the respondents on an immediate basis, the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said: “It would serve the children well if the State has a road-map ready so that the lack of adequate food and nourishment that children have suffered over the last 15 months or so, particularly among the more vulnerable sections, maybe remedied without delay.”
The contention of the petitioner is that since there is a complete closure of schools for more than 15 months owing to which midday meals cannot be provided, it becomes the duty of the State to ensure that children in the State get the food and nutritional content as specified in the National Food Security Act, 2013. The petitioner submitted that the State needs to be proactive to ensure door-to-door delivery of meals to children all across the State.
The court observed that though there may be practical difficulties in achieving the said objective, yet the State needs to take aggressive steps to ensure the children are ‘well-fed and nourished, particularly in the wake of the pandemic when many families have lost jobs or have minimal resources available.
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“While it may be easier for the State, whether through the Corporations or the Municipalities, to organize adequate food and nourishment for children in the urban or semi-urban areas, the difficulties may come up in the rural areas,” said the Court indicating its consciousness on the difficulties that might be faced in the rural areas. In this regard, the Bench opined that the Panchayat system and NGOs may be roped in for the purpose of providing adequate food and nourishment to the children in the rural areas.
The matter will now be taken up on July 7. The petition is filed by Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group, a non-profit organization, working towards protecting citizens’ rights in consumer and environmental issues, seeking door-to-door delivery of meals to children across the State.
Read the Order below:
W.P.No_.13642-of-2021