Court questions government on junk food ban in schools

NEW DELHI - The Delhi High Court issued notices to the Delhi government, the health ministry and the human resource development ministry on the issue of banning the sale of junk food in and around schools, an NGO said in a statement Wednesday.

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Manmohan has asked for responses to the notices by Feb 12, 2011, and has appointed senior counsel Neeraj Kishan Kaul as the amicus curiae to assist it in the case.

A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Delhi High Court by NGO Uday Foundation to ban the sale of junk food and carbonated drinks in and around schools across the country.

“On the one hand, children are taught in the classroom about nutrition and the value of a healthy lifestyle, but on the other hand, we continue to make junk food available to them,” Uday Foundation co-founder Rahul Verma said in an earlier statement.

“Banning junk food and carbonated drinks in schools will set new standards for healthy food that will make our kids feel better, grow better and learn better, and it will improve the nutrition quality of school meals,” Verma added.

The petition asks the respondents - the Delhi government, Delhi’s education department, the human resource development and health ministries and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) - to formulate a comprehensive canteen policy so that only healthy food is available in schools.

It also asked for banning the sale of junk food within 100 yards of a school campus.