SC seeks report from Centre on NGO's plea for help to poor lactating mothers

A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices R Subhash Reddy and A S Bopanna asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta to file the status report giving details of the steps taken in helping the poor lactating mothers in the country. Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for NGO Peoples Union For Civil Liberties (PUCL), said the government had sanctioned amount of Rs 6,000 each to pregnant or lactating women during the period of lockdown under a scheme.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a status report from the Centre on a plea of an NGO seeking monetary reliefs for lactating mothers during the ongoing pandemic situation in the country. A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices R Subhash Reddy and A S Bopanna asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta to file the status report giving details of the steps taken in helping the poor lactating mothers in the country.

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for NGO Peoples Union For Civil Liberties (PUCL), said the government had sanctioned amount of Rs 6,000 each to pregnant or lactating women during the period of lockdown under a scheme. He said that a status report be sought from the government on the steps taken to extend financial help to such women in the event of cessation of the lockdown.

Pregnant women receive incentive given under the 'Janani Suraksha Yojana' (JSY) for institutionalized delivery and the incentive received under JSY would be accounted towards maternity benefits. Gonsalves said the issue was very important in view of the the fact that there was a very high mortality rate of children and women here.

The bench was hearing an application filed in a pending PIL of the NGO in which the notice was issued in 2015. Earlier, the top court, on September 4, 2015, had sought the response from the Centre on a plea seeking distribution of subsidised food grains to the poor through PDS and proper implementation of maternity benefit schemes.

It had issued notices to Union Ministries of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Women and Child Development on the PIL. The plea had sought a direction to all states and Union Territories for proper implementation of the National Food Security Act and the maternity benefit scheme.

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