The State Government failed to comply with direction of the Supreme Court in respect of conducting social audit of all food security programmes in the State by Gram Sabha, revealed RTI data.
Notably, the Supreme Court on May 8, 2002, hearing a Writ Petition on food security issue, had given an interim order to the State Government as well as Union Government for effective implementation of food security programme like PDS, MDM and ICDS all over the country.
According to the order, Gram Sabhas are entitled to conduct a social audit into all food or employment schemes and to report all instances of misuse of funds to the respective implementing authorities who shall on receipt of such complaints, investigate and take appropriate action in accordance with law.
To understand the steps taken by the State in implementing the direction of the apex court during last ten years, an RTI application on August 31 this year was submitted to three departments- the Food Supply and Consumer Welfare department, the Women and Child Development department and the School and Mass Education department seeking the needed information.
In response to the RTI application, the PIO on October 9 stated that no orders and compliances regarding social audits were available in these departments. It means the departments did not conduct a single social audit of ICDS programme by Gram Sabha in the State, alleged RTI activist Pradeep Pradhan.