Allahabad HC Directs Varanasi Administration to File Report on Malnutrition of Children

Apoorva Mandhani

26 Jun 2017 8:38 AM GMT

  • Allahabad HC Directs Varanasi Administration to File Report on Malnutrition of Children

    The High Court of Allahabad on Tuesday directed the Varanasi administration to file its response on a Petition alleging that the Government departments in a particular block of the District were neglecting malnourished children and not providing them with nutrition as per norms.A Division Bench of the Court comprising Justice Arun Tandon and Justice Ashok Kumar ordered the Varanasi...

    The High Court of Allahabad on Tuesday directed the Varanasi administration to file its response on a Petition alleging that the Government departments in a particular block of the District were neglecting malnourished children and not providing them with nutrition as per norms.

    A Division Bench of the Court comprising Justice Arun Tandon and Justice Ashok Kumar ordered the Varanasi District Magistrate Yogeshwar Ram Mishra to file a counter affidavit in the matter in two weeks. The matter has now been listed on 4 July.

    The Court was hearing a Petition filed by a local NGO, Jan Adhikar Manch, alleging that the State Child Development, Nutrition Department and the Health Department were indulging in corruption, thereby depriving malnourished children of their daily required minimum nutrition.

    The NGO has relied on the report submitted by its fact finding team, which had visited five villages in Varanasi’s Harhua block, and had found 22 children to be malnourished and their body weight much below WHO norms.

    It brought to the notice of the Court that it had brought the matter to the attention of the District Administration, but no action had been taken on its concerns. It had, therefore, now approached the Court.

    “There is clear violation of a government order issued in August 2016 by the Directorate of Child Development Services and Nutrition, under which a malnourished child is be to provided at least one meal daily and with 20 gm of desi ghee in it,” Mr. Anil Kumar Mourya, Convenor of Jan Adhikar Manch was quoted as saying.
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