CHENNAI: Ensure that the midday meal scheme is resumed immediately as and when schools reopen across the state, the Madras high court told the Tamil Nadu government on Friday.
The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P D Audikesavalu also made it clear that the programme should be resumed as it was during the pre-covid days, which means pre-March 2020 levels.
The issue pertains to a PIL moved by NGO Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group for a direction to the state to ensure supply of nutritious meal to children enrolled under the noon-meal scheme even during lockdown.
On Friday, the court said: “In view of the curbs imposed during the second surge of the pandemic having been considerably eased over the recent weeks, the supply of hot cooked meals has resumed.”
It is more than likely that schools may reopen in the next few weeks. The authorities should ensure that as and when schools reopen across the state, the mid-day meal scheme is resumed immediately. In addition, it is now possible for making hot cooked meals available to all schoolgoing children in the rural area, whether by opening the local Anganwadi Centres or by taking other appropriate measures at the local level, the court added.
The court then adjourned the hearing to October 22.
