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2009 Supreme(SC) 806
2009(4) Supreme 448
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
Dr. Arijit Pasayat and S.H. Kapadia, JJ.
People’s Union for Civil Liberties — Appellant
versus
Union of India & Ors. — Respondents
Writ Petition (C) No. 196 of 2001
Decided on : 22-04-2009
Gopal Subramanium, ASG, Manjit Singh, AAG, T.S. Dobia, colin Gonsalves, A. Mariarputham, Sr. Advs., D.S. Mehra, Ms. Sushma Suri, S.N. Terdol, Ms. Sunita Sharma, SWA Qadri, Mrs. Anil Katiyar, Puja Sharma, Ms. Jyoti Mendiratta, Ms. Shweta Garg, Anil Kr. Jha, V.G. Pragasam, S.J. Aristotle, P. Subramanian, K.N. Madhusoodhanan, R. Sathish, Atul Dakh, R.K. Adsure, T.V. George, R.C. Kaushik, T. Harish Kumar, V. Vasudevan, Ms. Rachna Srivastava, Mohd. Noorullah, Ms. Himani Jadoun, Mrs. H. Wahi, Ms. Pinky, Ms. K. Enatale Sema, Vikas Mehta, Nar Hari Singh, Gopal singh, Manish Kumar, Rituraj Biswas, Riku Sharma, Ranjan Mazumdar (for M/s. Corporate Law Group), T.C. Sharma, Ms. Neelam Sharma, Sanjay R. Hedge, R. Rohen Singh, Nishant Mishra, A. Mariarputham, Mrs. Aruna Mathur, Vimal Dubey, Rahul Srivastava, Ms. Suparna Srivastava, Adesh Sharma, Ram Swarup Sharma, K.H. Nobin Singh, S. Biswajit Meitei, M.P. Singh, B.S. Banthia, Vikas Upadhyay, Jana Kalyan Das, Ms. A. Subhashini, anil Kr. Srivastava, Ms. Kavita Wadia, Ashok Kr. Mathur, Ramesh Babu M.R., Pramod Dayal, R.S. Suri, T.R. Ramalingam, T.V. Ratnam, Milind Kumar, V.N. Raghupathy, Prakash Shrivastava, P.K. Maheshwari, N.S. Sohrawardi, Kuldip Singh, K.V. Mohan, G. Prakash, J.K. Bhatia, S.S. Mishra, Ms. Anjana Chandrashekar, B.B. Singh, Ms. Kamini Jaiswal, Naresh K. Sharma, Advocates.
Headnote:Writ Petition – Mal nutrition in children – Directions given by Court for eradication of same – Affidavit filed by Union of India highlighting several factors which create serious dent against malnutrition – It is stated that same can be made to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of malnutrition – The said affidavit clarified that these interventions included universalization of ICDS (by sanctioning 13.80 lakh Anganwadi/Mini Anganwadi Centres and 20,000 Anganwadis-on-Demand making a total of 14 lakh Anganwadis/Mini Anganwadi Centres as mandated by this Court) and, most importantly, reduction in the gap between Recommended Dietary Allowance and Actual Dietary Intake – On a careful consideration of matter, Central Government had revised both nutritional and feeding norms as well as the financial norms of supplementary nutrition under the ICDS Scheme – All the States and Union Territories were directed to provide supplementary nutrition – in the form of a morning snack and a hot cooked meal to the children in the age group of 3 to 6 years -As far as adolescent girls were concerned, they would continue to be covered by the entitlements of the Nutritional Programme for Adolescent Girls and Kishori Shakti Yojana till such time as a comprehensive universal scheme for the empowerment of adolescent girls called ‘The Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for the Empowerment of Adolescent girls’ was implemented within six months from the date of the order – Since several States like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Nagaland had not met the requisite norms said States were directed to take steps as required to be taken – Ordered accordingly. (Paras 5 to 11)
Facts of the Case :
A Writ Petition was filed herein in the instant case for eradication of mal nutrition in children. Several Directions were given by Court in this regard.
Findings of the Court :
Affidavit was filed by Union of India highlighting several factors which create serious dent against malnutrition. It was stated that same can be made to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of malnutrition. The said affidavit clarified that these interventions included universalization of ICDS (by sanctioning 13.80 lakh Anganwadi/ Mini Anganwadi Centres and 20,000 Anganwadis-on-Demand making a total of 14 lakh Anganwadis/Mini Anganwadi Centres as mandated by this Court) and, most importantly, reduction in the gap between Recommended Dietary Allowance and Actual Dietary Intake -On a careful consideration of matter, Central Government had revised both nutritional and feeding norms as well as the financial norms of supplementary nutrition under the ICDS Scheme. All the States and Union Territories were directed to provide supplementary nutrition- in the form of a morning snack and a hot cooked meal to the children in the age group of 3 to 6 years .As far as adolescent girls were concerned, they would continue to be covered by the entitlements of the Nutritional Programme for Adolescent Girls and Kishori Shakti Yojana till such time as a comprehensive universal scheme for the empowerment of adolescent girls called ‘The Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for the Empowerment of Adolescent girls’ was implemented within six months from the date of the order. Since several States like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Nagaland had not met the requisite norms said States were directed to take steps as required to be taken.
Result : Ordered accordingly.
JUDGMENT
Dr. Arijit Pasayat, J.—
1. Heard learned counsel for the parties. It has been submitted by learned counsel for the Union of India that keeping in view the orders passed by this Court on several dates, several actions have been taken, which substantially comply with the directions given by this Court.
2. Colin Gonsalves, Sr. counsel on the other hand stated that though there has been substantial compliance of the directions given by this court yet there is some reservation about the revised nutritional and feeding norms for supplementary nutrition in ICDS Scheme. It is submitted that there is scope of involving contractors in the supplies which was prohibited by that Court.
3. By affidavit dated 2nd March, 2009, the Union of India has highlighted several factors which create serious dent against malnutrition. It is stated that same can be made to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of malnutrition. The said affidavit clarifies that these interventions include universalization of ICDS (by sanctioning 13.80 lakh Anganwadi/ Mini Anganwadi Centres and 20,000 Anganwadis-on-Demand making a total of 14 lakh Anganwadis/Mini Anganwadi Centres as mandated by this Court) and, most importantly, reduction in the gap between Recommended Dietary Allowance (hereinafter referred to as “RDA”) and Actual Dietary Intake (hereinafter referred to as “ADI”). On a careful consideration of the matter, the Central Government has revised both the nutritional and feeding norms as well as thee financial norms of supplementary nutrition under the ICDS Scheme.
4. It is noted that the nutritional norms have remain unchanged since inception of the Scheme (in 1975) until a recent comprehensive review by a Task Force constituted by the Central Government. On the basis of the recommendations of this Task Force, the calorific and feeding norms for supplementary nutrition in ICDS Scheme in respect of children of all categories below 6 years of age and pregnant women and nursing mothers have been revised. The Table below shows the old and revised norms:
Old Norms Revised Norms
Category Rate Calories Protein Rate Calories Protein Rs./per (Cal) (g) Rs./per (Cal) (g), benefici- benefici ary per ary per
(i) Children below 3 2.00 300 8-10 4.00 500 12-15
(ii)Children 3-6 years 2.00 300 8-10 4.00 500 12-15
(iii)Severely 2.70 600 20 6.00 800 20-25 malnourished children
(iv)Pregnant & 2.30 500 20-25 5.00 600 18-20 Lactating (P&L) mothers
The above revised norms are incorporated in para 8.2(b) of the affidavit.
5. The Revised Nutritional and Feeding Norms for SNP in ICDS Scheme circulated vide letter no.5-9/2005/ND/Tech (Vol. II) dated 24.02.2009 states that children in the age group of 6 months to 3 years must be entitled to food supplement of 500 calorie of energy and 12-15 gm of protein per child per day in the form of take home ration (THR). For the age group of 3-6 years, food supplement of 500 calories of energy and 12-15 gm of protein per child must be made available at the Anganwadi Centres in the form of a hot cooked meal and a morning snack. For severely underweight children in the age group of 6 months to 6 years, an additional 300 calories of energy and 8-10 gm of protein would be given as THR. For pregnant and lactating mothers, a food supplement of 600 calories of energy and 18-20 gm of protein per beneficiary per day would be provided as THR.
6. The letter dated 24.02.2009 No.5-9/2005/ND/Tech (Vol.II) has been annexed to the affidavit dated 2nd March 2009 filed by the Union of India. It is directed that norms indicated in the said letter addressed to all the State Governments and Union Territories have to be implemented forthwith and the respective States/UTs would make requisite financial allocation and undertake necessary arrangements to comply with the stipulations contained in the said letter.
7. It is further stated by the Ld. Additional Solicitor General that Supplementary Nutrition Food (SNP) in the for
