Cuttack, March 8: Orissa High Court has decided to take stock of compliance of its order on the issue of providing drinking water to all anganwadi centres across the state.

Contempt proceedings were started against principal secretary, rural development department, Surendranath Tripathy and commissioner-cum-secretary of the child welfare department Arti Ahuja for non-compliance of order that the high court had issued on March 8, 2011.

The order had directed that drinking water supply be made available to all the 9,543 anganwadi centres, which did not have the facility.

The direction was issued while monitoring provision of drinking water facilities at anganwadi centres while adjudicating on a PIL on implementation of Special Nutrition Programme and Midday Meal programme. Dillip Kumar Mohapatra, who had filed the PIL, filed the contempt petition.

On December 20, 2012, the high court dropped the contempt proceeding after the two senior IAS officers filed two separate affidavits assuring the court to provide by end of March 2013, drinking water to 5,674 anganwadi centres, which do not have the facility on their premises.

The court, however, directed for implementation of its March 8, 2011, order “in letter and spirit”.

The matter had since gone into oblivion till the PIL came up before the court of the Chief Justice on Thursday. Appearing on behalf of the petitioner, senior advocate Narsingh Mishra sought direction for stocktaking of provision of water supply in the anganwadi centres across the state, especially in the remote areas in view of the ensuing summer.

Taking note of it the division bench of Chief Justice A.K. Goel and Justice A.K. Rath, before which the matter came up, directed the state government to submit “status report regarding supply of drinking water to anganwadi centres”.