High Court orders ₹25,000 payout for students who were given food eaten by a dog

The Chhattisgarh High Court has ordered the Chhattisgarh government to pay ₹25,000 each to a bunch of students who were recently served a midday meal despite the fact school authorities knew that it had been contaminated by a dog.

The compensation has to be paid within one month according to the order dated August 17.

The court took suo motu cognizance of the July 28 incident. A dog ate from a midday meal prepared by a self-help group at the government middle school in the Lacchanpur area of Balodabazar-Bhatapara district. Despite a complaint made to the headmaster about the contamination, the food was not removed from the meal and was eaten by the children. When the matter came to light, the children were given the anti-rabies vaccine.

“Considering the fact that it was a government institution and the SHG was assigned to provide mid-day meals, but the said mid-day meal was soiled by the dog and it was unfit for consumption for the students of the school and though three doses of anti-rabies has been administered to 84 children of the school, it was negligent on the part of the State to take care that the food which was being offered in the mid-day meal by the self-help group to the children of Middle School, we deem it proper that Rs.25,000/- be paid by the State to each of the students of the concerned Middle School, who had consumed the said meal, within a period of one month from today,” the order by the division bench Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and judge Bibhu Datta Guru states.

Earlier, the State had submitted that no compensation was provided, as the children were found to be fit after a health checkup.