The High Court of Karnataka on Monday reactivated a committee to oversee the process of process of identification, medical examination, and treatment of malnourished children, lactating mothers, and adolescent girls in the State.
A.N. Venugopala Gowda, a retired judge of the High Court, will be the chairperson of the Committee. The other members are: Commissioner, Health and Family Welfare Department, Director, Department of Women and Child Development, Chairperson, Karnataka State Commission for Child Rights, M.S. Tara, former regional director of National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development, Clifton D’Rozario, an advocate, Director, Indira Gandhi Institute for Child Health, and member-secretary, the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority.
A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum, passed the order on an application filed in a PIL petition, initiated suo motu by the High Court in 2011 on the issue of malnourished children based on a letter by one B.L Patil of an NGO.
It was pointed out in the application, quoting reports in newspaper, that the number of malnourished children are on the rise in Karnataka in view of closure of anganwadis since March 2020 owing to COVID-19, through which nutritional foods were being supplied to the children, lactating mothers, and adolescent girls as per various schemes of the government.
The HC in 2012 set up a committee, headed by then judge of the HC Justice N.K. Patil, which made several recommendations to address the issue of malnutrition among children and others.
