The Supreme Court has pulled up drought-hit states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Bihar for not appointing state food commissions or making them operational.
A bench of Justices M B Lokur and N V Ramana yesterday directed that the state food commissions must be appointed as per the provisions of the National Food Security Act (NFSA). The court had summoned the Chief Secretaries of ten states on 22nd of March, for failing to implement the NFSA.
With regard to Haryana, the apex court directed the Punjab and Haryana High Court to expeditiously decide a plea pending with it. The court, granted exemption to Chief Secretary of Chattisgarh due to the recent Naxal attack and recorded that the commission has been appointed.
The bench also took on record the statements of chief secretaries of Gujarat, Jharkhand and Telangana that appointments to the state food commission have been done. Hearing a plea filed by an NGO seeking reliefs for farmers in drought affected states, the court will continue its deliberations today on issues like MGNREGA, crop loss, loan restructuring in the drought-hit states.