MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Friday closed a public interest litigation (PIL) that sought to extend the Chief Minister's Breakfast Scheme to government-aided schools in coastal villages in Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, and Kanniyakumari districts.
A bench of justices M Sundar and R Sakthivel passed the order after the government counsel informed it of an evaluation proposed by the government through the Department of Evaluation and Applied Research. Based on the findings and financial implications of the report so obtained, the government will decide on further expanding the scheme.
The bench noted that the aforesaid scheme was launched on September 15, 2022, with around 1,500 government primary school students from Classes 1 to 5. Thereafter, the scheme, driven by ongoing study, was expanded to more than 31,000 government schools and nearly 18.54 lakh students, they added.
Since an evaluation will obviously cover the villages and schools mentioned by the petitioner, the judges opined that the grievance of the petitioner had been addressed, and therefore closed the petition.
The PIL was filed by A Brazil, Joint Secretary of Tamil Nadu Fishermen's Federation. Brazil contended that women in coastal areas go to the seashore early in the morning to earn a livelihood. While the noon meal scheme is implemented in the aided schools in coastal villages, the breakfast scheme has been limited only to government schools, Brazil said and called it discriminatory. In view of most schools in coastal villages being government-aided schools, Brazil said he sought the above direction.