Scrutinise child care institutes, directs high court

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court has directed the UT administration, Punjab and Haryana to prepare a list of all registered and unregistered child care institutions, get them inspected, prepare a status report about deficiencies and submit it to principal secretaries and UT adviser within two months.
The directions were passed in a contempt petition filed by Bachpan Bachao Andolan.
The court also ordered strict action be taken against unregistered institutions or those found lacking in terms of the statutory requirements. The status report is to be submitted in the high court by the next date of hearing on January 18, 2019. The court stated, "The inspection reports to be submitted by the commissions of Punjab, Haryana and UT, as also action taken in response thereto by the governments be placed on record by way of fresh status report on or before the next date of hearing."
Earlier, Justice Surya Kant had directed governments of Punjab and Haryana to constitute selection committees headed by Judges as mandated under the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act to make selections of Child Welfare Committees and Juvenile Justice Boards.
During the resumed hearing of the case, the court was informed that Punjab has appointed chairpersons and members in all 22 districts, whereas Haryana is in the process of doing so. It was also informed that Child Welfare Committees in all the Districts in Punjab are now functional.
As far as Haryana is concerned, the court was informed that the selection committee headed by a former judge has already made recommendations and out of 22 posts of chairpersons of Child Welfare Committees, 11 have since been appointed. As regard to 88 posts of members of Child Welfare Committees, 67 posts have been filled and out of 44 posts of members of Juvenile Justice Boards, 34 have been filled, whereas 10 posts are under process of filling up. Advocate Anil Malhotra, amicus curiae, had pleaded that transparent selections to these committees were absolute necessary.
To improve the functioning of child care institutions, the court has directed the administration along with Punjab and Haryana to take immediate remedial measures.