In Court

Malnutrition petition: In a suo moto petition taking cognisance of the increasing number of child deaths in Maharashtra's tribal areas, the Bombay High Court has ruled that there are inherent flaws in government's policy on malnutrition; these should be addressed before it offers any solution. Condemning government's failure on this account, the court directed that the Union government, specially the Union ministry of human resource development (HRD), be made a party in the petition. In its order, the court also took note of the views of activist Sheela Barse, who was a petitioner in the 1993 Melghat malnutrition case in the state. It had sought Barse's advice for resolving the confusion created by the various 'solutions' presented by the state to deal with the problem.

The court has asked the HRD ministry to consult the centrally funded National Nutrition Monitoring Board and the Women and Child Development Board before deposing in the case.