HC tells govt not to boast of being ‘welfare’ State

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday came down heavily on the Maharashtra government for ‘boasting’ about its remedial measures to control infant deaths in tribal areas.

A division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Nitin Jamdar heard the batch of petitions over the mortality rate due to malnutrition. The bench was irked by the utter failure of the government in implementing its ‘welfare’ measures. The state claimed these measures were enhancing the living conditions of the tribal community.

The minute the government’s counsel – Neha Bhide -- told the judges that Maharashtra ranks third on the list of states with welfare measures for the tribal community, the petitioners apprised the judges that nearly 180 children have died in the last two months.

Irked by this, Chief Justice Chellur said, “Stop boasting about your policies and measures. Have you been able to prevent even a single death due to malnutrition? If you seriously follow the welfare state model, then you should be able to say that there are no deaths due to malnutrition.”

The judges pulled up the government over the quality of food and nutrition supplements, it provides to the children. “The children in anganwadis are being given masoor dal. Is this enough for the children’s nutrition? You receive so many funds and we want to know where does that money go? Should the public begin to keep track of such funds?” the judges said.

The judges appreciated the measures undertaken by the government but at the same time pointed out the fact that children were still dying of hunger and malnutrition.

Earlier, the matters were heard by another bench headed by Justice VM Kanade, who had passed several orders and once he had said that the HC is helpless in front of the government’s ‘poor approach and negligence’ for the tribal community.

The next hearing will be a week later.