The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday prima facie found the ingredients of the package being provided by the State government to students in lieu of midday meals an unreasonable compensation.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar made this observation after going through the statement filed by the government that in addition to the specified quantity of rice or wheat, it would also supply iodised salt, edible oil, and toor dal equivalent to the cooking cost devised per student under the midday meal scheme.
The government stated that 4 kg of iodised salt, 4 litres of edible oil, and a certain quantity of toor dal would be supplied till March next year in four instalments, with entitlements from August 2020 to March 2021 .
The government, which had supplied only toor dal along with rice or wheat in November for the entitlement of June-July months, had decided to add iodised salt and edible oil based on questions posed by the Bench during an earlier hearing.
However, the Bench on Tuesday questioned the need for 4 kg of salt while orally observing that the government appeared to have chosen a large quantity of salt to reduce the quantity of toor dal.
The government had, in October, admitted before the court that it was not right on its part to not have supplied foodgrains in lieu of midday meals since June. It commenced supplying the backlog last month.
