The Delhi high court on Thursday directed the Delhi government to pay over Rs 4 lakhs as compensation to 126 students who has fallen ill after consuming midday meal in a state-run school last month.
After hearing a public interest litigation from an NGO Harit Recyclers Association, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Madan B. Lokur said, “The scheme has public character. It is the obligation of the state to see that it is properly worked out. No one becomes a victim and suffers from any kind of health hazard due to consumption of bad food. Here there can be no shadow of doubt that the state has to pay the compensation.”
The court directed the government to pay Rs 3,000 each to 121 students who were taken ill after eating the midday meal.
The court observed, “Young children suffered physical pain and mental agony. The mental shock of a child who goes to the casualty ward can be well imagined. The children who were admitted in ICU have suffered more than others. The psychology of young children has to be understood in proper prospective.” The bench passed the order after hearing a PIL from the NGO seeking direction to the government for implementation of Supreme Court’s guidelines relating to mid-day meal scheme. Filing the PIL, the NGO sought the court’s direction for a probe and prosecution of guilty officers responsible for such incident, apart from compensation for the victims.
The NGO claimed that at least five girl students out of 126 in government girls’ middle school in Hauz Qazi, Lal Kuan area of old Delhi fell sick and others suffered from nausea and stomach ache after eating the meal provided by an NGO on May 6.