Community Kitchen: SC Slaps Rs 10 Lakh Fine On Odisha & 4 Other States

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday imposed additional fine of Rs 5 lakh on five states, including Odisha, for failing to deposit Rs 5 lakh imposed earlier and not complying with its directions to file affidavits on a PIL seeking setting up of community kitchens across the country.

A bench headed by Justice NV Ramana directed the five states – Odisha, Delhi, Maharashtra, Goa and Manipur – to deposit the fine and posted the next hearing on the matter to April 8.

It also refused to entertain a plea of some state governments to wave off the penalty.

The directive of the court came in response to a PIL filed by social activists Anun Dhawan, Ishann Dhawan and Kunjana Singh.

The apex court October 18 last year had favoured setting up of community kitchens, stating that the country needed this kind of system to tackle the problem of hunger. It had issued notices to the Centre and all states seeking their responses on the PIL and seeking directions to all the states and union territories (UTs) to formulate a scheme for community kitchens to combat hunger and malnutrition.

Last week, the apex court had observed that only seven states/UTs – Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Nagaland and Jammu & Kashmir- have filed affidavits in connection with the food security and community kitchens.