Patna HC takes serious view of Saharsa mid-day meal poisoning, asks SP to head SIT

The incident occurred at a government middle school in Baluaha village (Mahishi block) of Saharsa when children fell ill after consuming mid-day meal containing a suspected de“small snake”

The Patna High Court has directed the Saharsa Superintendent of Police (SP) to head the special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the case of alleged poisoning of mid-day meal that had left around 300 children sick and hospitalised on May 7.

Patna high court (HT Photo)

The incident occurred at a government middle school in Baluaha village (Mahishi block) of Saharsa when children fell ill after consuming mid-day meal containing a suspected “small snake”. Though the children recovered after treatment, the incident sparked widespread outrage.

The attention of the court was drawn towards the information received from an Advocate of the State of Telangana, who brought to the notice of the Chief Justice a report that several children in the schools in Saharsa district of Bihar had fallen ill after suspected contaminated mid-day-meal and had to be admitted to a local hospital. It was turned into a public interest litigation (PIL) taking suo motu cognisance.

During the hearing, the Saharsa District Magistrate informed that 189 children were admitted to the hospital and later released after primary treatment.

The director of the Bihar Directorate of Mid-Day-meal (now known as PM POSHAN), Saharsa District Magistrate, Saharsa Food Safety Officer, Food Analyst, and Agamkuan Laboratory (Patna) were also present during the hearing.

“The Directorate of MDM/PM, POSHAN shall place on record the reports of third-party assessment of agencies/NGOs involved with MDM for the Financial Year 2024-25 and Financial Year 2025-26,” said the bench of Justice Rajiv Ranjan Prasad and Justice Mohit Kumar Shah on Tuesday. The order was uploaded on Wednesday.

Taking serious cognisance of the incident, the court also raised questions about the state government’s system and the involved NGO/agencies due to serious safety oversight, which has played with the trust of the poor whose children attend government schools.

“Delay of about seven days in sending the sample to the Regional Forensic Science Laboratory (RFSL), Bhagalpur is a matter of concern which should be looked into by the SP. All the affidavits and action taken reports from the stakeholders should be filed before June 2,” said the bench.

The court also directed that notice be issued to the suppliers agency, Bharat Ratna Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar Dalit Udhthan Avam Shiksha Samiti, Baluaha Chowk, Lahuar through the Directorate MDM/ PM POSHAN, and that it be added as a respondent.

With the role of the agency handling the centralised kitchens supplying food to the school under investigation, the court called upon the Director, Directorate of MDM/PM POSHAN, to take an immediate view on whether the agency facing investigation should be allowed to continue during the ongoing investigation and why administrative action should not be considered at the earliest,” the bench observed.

The court also sought a report from the director on the parameters for selection of the agencies and the credibility of the agencies, as one agency caters to over hundred schools, and have a re-look on the present arrangements vis-a-vis the capability and capacity of the agencies to handle the work load.

“The Directorate shall consider whether such large number of schools allotted to one agency is likely to affect the efficiency of the service to the children both in quality and punctuality,” it added.

Mid-day Meal scale

The court was informed that the mid-day-meal scheme covers 68,798 schools in Bihar catering to over 10 million students from Class 1 to Class 8 under two kinds of arrangements, with monitoring by officers like the District Programme Officer (PM POSHAN), District Programme Manager and Block Resource Person (Prakhand Sadhan Sevi) and third-party review by empaneled Institutes.

At the Panchayat level in the schools, the mid-day-meals are prepared in the school kitchen under the monitoring of the school management committee and headmaster, and served under the same supervision.

At the block level, the scheme runs through NGOs and is awarded through a tender process, which have centralized kitchens from where the food is sent to different schools. In 37 districts, 116 centralized kitchens are run through 43 NGOs.

Out of 116 centralised kitchens 41 were recently added in 2025-26. Six were not given renewal due to an adverse inspection report.

In Saharsa, the centralised kitchens were inspected by ADRI during the year 2024-25 and the report is awaited. Regarding the occurrence in the schools at Baluaha and Chandrayan under Maheshi and Nauhatta Blocks respectively, the food was supplied by an empanelled agency, Bharat Ratna Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar Dalit Udhthan Avam Shiksha Samiti.

Masrakh scare

In 2013, Bihar made news when over 23 children of the government primary school in Dahrmasati Gandawan village at Mashrakh block, about 25 km from Chhapra and 60 km from state capital Patna, died after consuming a contaminated mid-day meal.

After that, a string of similar incidents was reported from various districts and with teacher involvement in MDM consistently being raised, the government opted for NGOs, Jeevika groups and other agencies to run MDM.

However, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has consistently raised concerns regarding the implementation and financial management of the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) / PM POSHAN scheme in Bihar, flagging structural gaps and procedural lapses.

In the past, inflated school enrolment and attendance to avail higher allocation for MDM had also surfaced, leading to a drive to crackdown on proxy registers in schools and deletion of names of ‘ghost’ students. In 2018, the government ordered the recovery of a ₹8.68-crore penalty from headmasters. In 2020, over 2 million names were struck off the rolls by the education department, suspected to be non-existent due to continued absence.