State to list steps against malnutrition

Mumbai: Advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni on Wednesday informed the court that the state had taken substantial steps on the direction given by HC for eradication of malnutrition in tribal areas, and sought time to file an affidavit. The Bombay high court on Wednesday allowed the state government two weeks’ time to file an affidavit.

Earlier, another HC bench rapped the state for not taking steps on the court’s order to eradicate malnutrition. The HC said that the order included framing of a nutrition policy, appointment of doctors, setting up of clinics and hospitals, and new technologies for monitoring health of mothers and newborns.

A division bench of chief justice Manjula Chellur and justice M.S. Sonak was hearing a bunch of PILs filed against the state for not taking adequate steps to eradicate malnutrition in tribal areas. The court told the petitioners that it had assigned petitions related to malnutrition to another bench, and directed them to appear before that bench. Expressing its displeasure on the efforts put in by the state government, the court on Wednesday said, “The tribal population in the state has remained completely neglected and this is not done. This is a serious matter and the state must take note and discharge its duties.”

In June, another bench remarked that death due to malnutrition was as important as farmers’ deaths and rapped the state for doing nothing about the same. The petitioners told the court that from 2010 to 2017, the HC had given 30 different orders in connection with malnutrition but the state had failed to do anything about it.