Srinagar: The High Court has granted the J&K & Ladakh governments “last opportunity” to make their position clear regarding the setting up of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
Hearing a Public Interest Litigation, a division bench of Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal observed that despite repeated orders passed by the Court, the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, in terms of Section 44 of the Protection of the Child from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, has not been constituted.
Subsequently, the court asked the Secretary to the Government, Social Welfare Department, to appear before it. Sanjeev Verma, Secretary, SWD joined the proceedings virtually, as per the order.
The court interacted with him at length, and he fairly admitted that although the advertisement to select and appoint the members, as also the Chairperson of the Commission, was issued way back in June 2023, the process of selection is still at the nascent stage.
However, considering the sensitivity of the matter, as also that a considerable time has already elapsed, the Secretary SWD prayed for a short space to furnish a specific affidavit, indicating the precise time that was required to complete the selection process.
“That being so, and before we proceed any further in the matter, the proceedings are deferred to 02.06.2025,” the court said and ordered that a status report in this regard be filed a week prior to June 2.
“…Before we record any order on merits, we consider it necessary to afford one last opportunity to the respondent-authorities to make their positions clear, to enable us to address the matter in issue,” the court added.
The Commission is to be set up in keeping with the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act, read with the Protection of Child Rights Act, and would have the power to inquire into the complaints and take suo moto notice of matters relating to deprivation and violation of child rights.
