Madras HC urges TN govt to form child rights protection commission soon to implement JJ Act
A division bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and K Rajasekar heard a suo motu proceeding initiated to ensure the State government implemented the child rights legislations
Madras High Court (File)
CHENNAI: “Despite directions of the Supreme Court ensuring child rights, the Tamil Nadu Commission for Protection of Children Rights (TNCPCR) has not been functional in TN for more than one-and-a-half years,” opined the Madras High Court, and directed the State to appoint the commission expeditiously.
A division bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and K Rajasekar heard a suo motu proceeding initiated to ensure the State government implemented the child rights legislations.
Jayashree Muralidharan, secretary, social welfare department, appeared before the court and submitted that the State was not in a position to appoint the commission as there was a stay of the Supreme Court following pleas challenging a dissolution order. “The matter was remitted back to the High Court here and the Constitutional court also cleared the deck now. Hence, the department has initiated the process to appoint the commission,” she said.
Jayashree also submitted that on February 13, a notification was issued to invite eligible candidates for the post of chairman and members to constitute the commission. “March 20 was fixed as the last date to submit the applications. We need three months to complete the process and comply with the directions of the apex court,” she added.
After the submission, the bench granted the three-month time (until June 20) to the State to form the commission for the implementation of Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, and disposed of the suo motu proceedings.
Sampurna Behura, programme director of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, moved a petition in SC seeking proper implementation of the JJ Act. On February 9, 2018, a division bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta, after hearing the matter, passed an order with several directions to the State governments.
It also directed all the High Courts to initiate suo motu proceedings to ensure that the respective State governments implemented the JJ Act. Pursuant to the order, the Madras HC initiated proceedings to continue its proactive role in the welfare of children.
Senior counsel Pragyan Sharma, on behalf of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, a charitable society for the protection of child rights, submitted that the TNCPCR was not functioning properly as there was not even a single member in the commission at present. So, he sought to dissolve the TNCPCR and re-constitute the commission.
