MUMBAI: Bombay high court on Thursday inquired why no FIR was registered by police against the supplier of “substandard” chikki that was fed to children in anganwadis and primary schools.
A bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Girish Kulkarni pointed out that “your (State’s) officers register offences in (respect of) small violation in pedas and barfis.” “Why not in this case where children are suffering?” they asked. The court heard two PILs filed in 2015, including one by activist Sandeep Ahire, that the chikkis were “infested with gravel, mud particles and granule stones.” Ahire urged action against then women and child development minister Pankaja Munde who had favoured a few suppliers.
The judges asked advocate Gauri Godse, assisting the court as amicus curiae, to concentrate on the procedure for procurement right from selection of suppliers till discharge of obligation. “Whether it complied with norms, whether there was illegality in the award of the contract…thereafter we’ll look into the illegality of the supply,’’ said Justice Kulkarni.
Godse submitted that “even if the State has relied on 1992 government resolution, still it will be under obligation to show in what manner it was followed to enlist suppliers.” Also, that the GR nowhere says the government should not follow a tender process.
She said the petitioner has relied on a 2014 GR to contend that the government has to follow a tender process. “There is nothing on record to show tender procedure was followed while selecting this particular institution,” Godse said of supplier Suryakanta Mahila Audyogik Sahakari Sanstha.
The judges then asked the government pleader, Priyabhushan Kakade, if any offence had been registered against the supplier for violations and was told it was not. “Why is no offence registered under the Food Safety Act against the supplier?’’ asked Justice Kulkarni. It was then that the judges said that officers register cases for minor violations. They adjourned the hearing to September 2 while seeking English translations of relevant documents.
