New Delhi: School children in Lakshadweep, a Union territory with a Muslim population, will continue to get meat chicken in the form of mid-day meals. The Supreme Court has asked the Lakshadweep administration to continue with the interim order of the Kerala High Court in this regard. The High Court had directed to include meat-making products in the menu of mid-day meals. The apex court gave the directions on Monday (May 2, 2022) while hearing a petition challenging the Lakshadweep administration's decision to remove other meat products, including chicken, from the menu and close down dairy farms.
A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and A S Bopanna also issued notices to the Central government, the Lakshadweep administration and others on the petition. The Supreme Court will now hear the matter after the summer vacation. Meanwhile, the interim order passed by the Kerala High Court on June 22, 2021, will remain intact. The High Court had on June 22, 2021, stayed the implementation of the Lakshadweep administration's decision to close down the dairy and remove chicken, eggs and other meat products from the mid-day meal of school children. The high court had passed the order while turning down a PIL filed by Ajmal Ahmed, a native of Kavaratti. The petition was filed in September 2021. The plea had alleged that since Praful Khoda Patel became the Lakshadweep administrator, his top priority was to shut down the dairy farm run by the animal husbandry department and "attack" the food habits of the local people that had been going on for a long time.
Ahmed had challenged in the court the May 21, 2021, order of the Director of Animal Husbandry, directing the closure of all dairy farms. The petitioner has also challenged the administration's decision to remove chicken and other meat products from the mid-day meal menu for school children in Lakshadweep.
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