The Uttarakhand Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Commission has threatened to go to court if the Dalit cook who was sacked from a school in Champawat district is not reinstated.

The Commission's Chairman, Mukesh Kumar, said, "I have asked the Champawat district administration to do justice by Sunita Devi, the Dalit Bhojanmata at Sukhi Dhang Inter College, who was sacked on technical grounds after upper-caste students of the secondary school refused to eat mid-day meal cooked by her."

He said demanded that relevant authorities should identify people involved in the row as they are spoiling the "traditional social fabric" of Uttarakhand. Devi was fired by the district education officials citing "procedural lapses" in her appointment after a row erupted earlier this month. 

Kumar said the officials who had fired the Dalit cook were themselves guilty of procedural lapses as they did not inform higher authorities before doing so. Apart from describing the woman as a deserving candidate for the job, Kumar added that her child also studies in the same school. He said the school management committee is likely to meet on December 30 to discuss the issue.