Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has expressed serious dissatisfaction over negligence of officials in connection with students falling ill due to alleged mid-day meal contamination at Maganur ZP High School in Telangana's Narayanpet district. It has questioned whether authorities would act only if children died and criticised the delay in taking immediate action to address the issue.
Around 50 students of Maganur School fell ill allegedly after consuming mid-day meal. The matter came to light through a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by K. Akhil Sriguruteja, highlighting lapses in the mid-day meal scheme and its non-implementation in private unaided schools. Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Srinivasa Rao heard the case on Wednesday.
Concerns raised over repeated incidents
The petitioner's lawyer, Rikudu Prabhakar, pointed out multiple incidents of children falling ill after consuming mid-day meals. A week after 50 students from Maganur school fell ill, another 29 students suffered food poisoning. Earlier, 20 students from Gangadhara village in Karimnagar district underwent a similar ordeal after consuming mid-day meal.
“These incidents prove that the government is serving substandard meals,” argued the petitioner’s lawyer. The bench rebuked the government's assistant lawyer for seeking a week to file a response, stating, “If a non-bailable warrant is issued, the officials will appear by noon.”
Additional Advocate General Imran Khan argued that the Maganur incident was not linked to the government-sponsored mid-day meal but to snacks purchased privately by the students. He assured the court of a thorough investigation and action against officials found negligent in other incidents related to mid-day meals.
Court pulls up government for delayed action:
The court condemned officials over lack of "humanity" and urgency to act, saying, “Don’t the officials have children? Shouldn’t they act swiftly when students fall ill? The detachment and negligence in their actions are appalling.” The bench warned that it would not hesitate to suspend the District Education Officer if necessary.
The High Court directed the government to submit a comprehensive report on the incidents and actions taken, by December 2.
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