The Delhi High Court has issued a notice to the Delhi Government (AAP government) for not providing mid-day meal to school children amid Corona virus.
The court has issued a notice to the government on the basis of the PIL and sought an answer. The petition has asked for directions to provide mid-day meal or food security allowance to children. Significantly, due to the lockdown, all government and non-government schools have been closed for a long time.
The court has directed the government to file an affidavit in this regard before June 16. In this petition filed on behalf of NGO ‘Mahila Ekta Manch’, the court has been requested to issue instructions to the Delhi government to comply with the advisory issued by the Center (letter dated 20.03.2020 and thereafter).
In the advisory, all the chief secretaries of the states and union territories were instructed to provide food grains to the eligible students at the beginning of every month. The petitioner says that the objective of this advisory was to increase the immunity of poor children keeping in mind the COVID-19 epidemic.
It has been alleged in the petition that the Delhi government has stopped giving mid-day meals to the eligible children of the economically weaker sections.
-India Legal Bureau