The scheme was implemented from August 1995 on the orders of the Supreme Court.

In its report for 2006-07, the CAG said the monitoring of the scheme was inadequate and the state government has not got its performance evaluated by any external agency.

The report, tabled in the state assembly on Thursday, said the state government also violated the SC ruling by not providing mid-day meal to 1.63 crore children of the drought-affected areas during the summer vacations of 2005 and 2007.

In its 17-point report, the CAG detected several lapses on part of the government, including the non-conduction of a baseline survey during 2004-05 to determine the enrolment of children in schools.

No credible data about the enrolment, presence and retention of children in schools were compiled.

The quality of grains for the meals was not monitored at any stage. During the inspection of foodgrain at the NGO godowns, as much as 76 per cent of it — supplied to 224 schools of 320 — was found to be of poor quality. Foreign elements and broken grains were found to be far above the permissible limits.

Pointing to the poor transportation of grains, the report said from 2002 to 2007, grains worth Rs 121.98 crore remained with the fair price shops — they were not distributed to schools. In five of the 16 districts under scrutiny, the loss of grains between 2004 and 2007 during storage and transportation amounted to Rs 30.82 lakh.

Deficient scrutiny of bills filed by the transport contractors for the period 2002-07 by the Finance Controller, Basic Shiksha Parishad, resulted in an excess reimbursement of Rs 81.88 crore. The Fair Price shop owners retained 3.58 crore empty gunny bags during 2002-07, reaping undue benefit of Rs 43.86 crore.

The CAG has also taken strong exception to non-distribution of the required quantity of food during 2004-07. The prescribed quantity of nutrients and dishes as per the menu was missing, resulting in inadequate nutritional support. Neither was improvement in the nutritional status of children was ensured by providing micro-nutrient supplements and de-worming medicines. Even periodic health check-up of the children was not conducted.

The report said kitchen sheds were not provided in 36,489 schools of the 96,457 as of March, 2007. Of 253 kitchen sheds in 320 tested schools, 169 were non-functional due to their dilapidated condition or separate centralised kitchens run by the NGOs.