Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka has directed the state government to not stop the food dtribution programmes taken up by various social service and voluntary organisatons as the programmes are helping the weaker sections of the society.

The bench said that Prima facie it is of the opinion that voluntary organizations cannot be prevented from distributing food to the weaker sections of the society as long as they are following the social distancing and other precautionary measures.

On April 12, an application was filed by Know Your Rights Association and stated that by filing the said application, the attention of the Court was invited to the action taken by Kalaburagi District Administration by issuing an order dated March 30, which suggested that the organizations which are distributing food to beggars, needy and the homeless, are committing direct violation of the prohibitory order under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973.

It was also pointed that such action is not confined only to Kalaburagi District, but similar action appears to have been taken by the
District Administration at Dharwad as well.

The bench said: “Right from our first order, we have been suggesting to the State Government that the activities of NGOs working in the field need to be co-ordinated. The State Government must respond on this by 16th April, 2020.”

“If the State Government is unable to provide a portal where all the NGOs can upload their information, the State must consider of convening meetings at the district level, municipal level, etc. via Video Conferencing for co-ordinating the activities of NGOs. It will be appropriate that at such meetings, the Chairpersons and Secretaries of the District Legal Service Authorities (DLSAs) are invited to attend,” the Court said.