New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday imposed additional cost of Rs 5 lakh on five states — Delhi, Maharashtra, Odisha, Goa and Manipur, for failing to deposit Rs 5 lakh imposed earlier and not complying with its directions to file their affidavits on a PIL seeking setting up of community kitchens across the country.
A bench headed by Justice N.V. Ramana also refused to entertain a plea of some state governments to wave off this penalty.
Attorney General K.K. Venugopal representing the Centre said an affidavit has already been filed and another affidavit will be filed soon with respect to the scheme in the country.
The Apex court has scheduled the matter for further hearing on April 8.
Last week, the top court observed that only seven states/UTs have filed affidavits, in connection with the food security and community kitchens which include Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Nagaland and Jammu & Kashmir.
