CHENNAI: The social welfare department has issued a G.O constituting a committee, headed by a retired high court judge, for the selection of social worker members to the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) and chairperson and members of Child Welfare Committee (CWC). Child rights activists have urged the government not to delay the appointment process further, as 19 districts have vacancies in CWCs and JJBs.
The appointments for the posts were being held at the district-level so far, and now, the Tamil Nadu Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules, 2017 have been amended to constitute a state-level committee.
The retired judge of the high court who will be heading the state-level selection committee will be appointed in consultation with the chief justice of the Madras High Court. The committee will also include six other members- director of social defence, who will be the ex-officio member secretary, two representatives from two reputed NGOs, two representatives from educational institutions or universities and a representative of the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Protection of Child Rights. The committee’s term will be three years.
Earlier, the selection of the members were made by a committee consisting of principal district and sessions judge as chairperson and district collector and deputy commissioner of police/district superintendent of police as members.
While many stakeholders welcomed the appointment of state-level committee in line with the central rules, they said vacancies have to be filled quickly. “The tenure of the CWC in Madurai has ended and CWC members from Dindigul have been given additional charge to carry out the duties. The situation is no different in Chennai Central, Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Madurai and Tirunelveli. These bodies are not constituted in the newly-formed districts as well, and those in neighbouring districts are handling the cases in these districts. The members are not able to handle many cases and it affects the protection of children,” said a child welfare committee member.
Meanwhile, child rights activists urged the social welfare department to appoint the members at the earliest, as the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha election would come in to effect any time. The delay in appointments would negatively impact the vulnerable children, they added.