Mid-day meal outsourcing: Punjab High Court seeks response from state govt

October 17, 2025

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has sought the state government’s response on a PIL challenging the decision to outsource the preparation and supply of mid-day meals and nutritional supplements for pregnant and lactating women in government schools to private companies.

A division bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Beri issued a notice to the state government on Thursday after hearing the petitioner’s arguments. The petition said that in 2022, the preparation of mid-day meals and supplementary food for Anganwadi centers was outsourced to four private companies, which violates the Supreme Court’s guidelines and the provisions of the National Food Security Act.

The petitioner argued that under the law, these schemes should be run at the local level through self-help groups and women’s organizations to ensure both employment and transparency. Despite this, the government has entrusted this responsibility to large private contractors.

Before 2004, the system in Punjab was run in a decentralized manner through government cooperatives, such as Verka. However, in 2022, the state floated new tenders, which made only large companies eligible; some of these companies also lacked the necessary infrastructure to prepare panjiri or nutritious food.

Citing cases from states like Maharashtra, the petitioner argued that the Supreme Court has already made it clear that corporate companies should be excluded from schemes like mid-day meals or supplementary nutrition, as these are meant to empower local communities.