HYDERABAD: The women development and child welfare department has yet again taken a lackadaisical approach to the appointment of chairperson and members to the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) by postponing the interviews indefinitely. The department scheduled the interviews for September 8 for the various posts in the commission but, due to the dissolution of the Assembly, it cannot conduct the interviews now.
SCPCR, which has quasi-legal powers to hold court and order various departments to take action in cases of infringement of child rights, has been non-existent for over a year now after serving as a headless body for over three years since its inception in 2014. Only a fortnight ago had the High Court, dealing with a PIL filed by a former member, pulled up the department for failing to make the due appointments and summoned director of women development and child welfare Viziendira Boyi for an explanation.
However, with the latest political developments, the commission’s formation has been postponed again.
Department’s officials maintain that it’s the technicalities that delayed the appointments. “As per the GO, it is a legislator appointed by speaker of the Assembly, along with the minister of women and child welfare development and a representative of the law department who conduct interviews and select the suitable candidate.
Since these positions also got dissolved, we cannot conduct the interviews,” a senior official explained.
In the absence of SCPCR, the fate of many cases including that of Yadagirigutta brothel, where many children were forced into prostitution, is anybody’s guess, say former members of SCPCR.
“From the very start the department’s intentions have not been clean. They postponed issuance of the initial notification in March by citing extension of the Assembly session. When the House was functioning, they dragged their feet. When rumours were thick that the Assembly was going to be dissolved, even then they did not act. Did they deliberately delay the appointments just to sneak their own people in at an opportune time?” wondered Achutya Rao, a former member of the child rights commission.