Hyderabad, Dec.5 (NSS): The Telangana High Court today heard a petition on mid-day meals being provided in government schools. The court directed that nutritious meals be served to the students as prescribed by the government. It has made it clear that a report should be submitted in cases where students fell ill due to food poisoning. The court posted the matter for further hearing after six weeks.
The Additional Advocate General of the State (AAG), on behalf of the State government, told the court that two committees had been constituted in the cases of food poisoning. It was brought to the notice of the court that those responsible for the food poisoning incidents had already been suspended. He said the amount of money paid to agencies to provide quality meals had been increased by 40 per cent. On the other hand, advocate Chikkudu Prabhakar, appearing for the petitioner, argued that under the PM Poshan Yojana, there should be village, mandal, district and State level committees and added that such incidents were taking place due to lack of supervision by the committees. He said instructions should be issued to ensure that the committees function properly. Replying to this, the AAG said all the committees were working. The High Court recorded the details given by the AAG.
HC dismisses petitions challenging merger of gram panchayats
The High Court also dismissed a batch of petitions challenging the merger of gram panchayats with municipalities. It said the merger was done as per the ordinance promulgated by the State government and made it clear that the assembly has the power to bring in laws as part of governance.
As many as 51 gram panchayats in Ranga Reddy, Medchal and Sangareddy districts were recently merged with the adjacent municipalities. Several petitions have been filed against the merger of the gram panchayats. The bench of the Chief Justice, which took up the matter, delivered the verdict on Thursday. This paved the way for the merger of the gram panchayats in the municipalities.
