Now Reading: Rajasthan HC bans junk food sale in schools and nearby
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Rajasthan HC bans junk food sale in schools and nearby
The Rajasthan High Court has banned the sale of high-fat, high-sugar and high-salt food items, including carbonated drinks and chips, in school canteens and within 50 metres of school gates. A Jodhpur…
The Rajasthan High Court has banned the sale of high-fat, high-sugar and high-salt food items, including carbonated drinks and chips, in school canteens and within 50 metres of school gates. A Jodhpur bench of Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand issued the order while taking suo motu cognisance of systemic deficiencies in schools across the state.
The court directed every school to set up a food safety and nutrition committee within four weeks and display menu boards with calorie counts, ingredients and nutritional value within eight weeks. It also ordered that mid-day meals conform to FSSAI's balanced-diet guidelines and that a dedicated portal and helpline be established for food-safety complaints.
Notices were sent to the Union Education Secretary, FSSAI, the Rajasthan Chief Secretary and other departments, directing them to respond within eight weeks. The state government must file an affidavit within six weeks detailing steps taken to implement 2020 regulations on safe food in schools.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The Jodhpur bench's suo motu action comes under the High Court's writ jurisdiction to police fundamental rights, specifically the right to life under Article 21 which courts have expanded to cover public health. The eight-week deadline for government departments to respond sets a concrete timeline, but enforcement across Rajasthan's roughly 70,000 government schools, many with no functional canteen, will test administrative capacity. The court's traffic-light labelling mandate mirrors a 2020 FSSAI draft that never became binding, this order could effectively force its adoption. The next date to watch is when the government files its compliance affidavit in roughly six weeks.
Source: timesnownews.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
