MADURAI: There have been no Child Welfare Committees (CWC) for over two and a half years in 14 districts in the state, with the neighbouring district’s CWC taking care of the responsibilities in such districts.
Meanwhile, the tenure of the existing CWCs in 15 more districts is set to end in March and April 2025. Child welfare activists have urged the state government to expedite the process of appointing chairpersons and members of CWCs, as the vacancies violates the Juvenile Justice Act 2015.
Former CWC Chairperson Zahiruddin Mohammed, who filed two PILs in the Madras High Court, said that the composition of CWC includes a chairperson and four other members, including a woman and an expert on matters concerning children.
The selection process for CWC chairpersons and members was initially held at the district level, but this violated the Model Rules and Section 110 of the JJ Act. Consequently, Mohammed filed the first PIL seeking to reconstitute the selection committee from the district to the state level.
The court issued orders that the selection must be done by a state-level committee. However, the appointment was delayed until 2022, and there was a further delay of one year before the state government constituted the state-level committee headed by a retired high court judge after he filed the second PIL. Mohammed filed a second PIL seeking to establish a timeframe for the appointment.
He noted that if the state had constituted the committee promptly, there would have been no need for the second PIL. However, the state committee is delaying the appointment process for vacant districts, while the tenure of CWCs in other districts is ending in March-April 2025. Mohammed explained that the centre enacted the JJ Act in 2015 and notified the Model Rules in 2016.
The state government framed the JJ Rules in 2017 and amended them vide GO in the Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Department in January 2024. Mohammed further noted apart from the lack of committees in 14 districts, there were four vacancies in Villupuram and three vacancies in Kancheepuram.
An official from the Department of Children Welfare and Special Services said the department has scrutinized applications for the 14 vacant districts and placed the eligible applications before the selection committee. The selection committee conducted interviews between October 2024 and December 2024 for 14 CWCs, including in four newly-created districts. After police verification, the proposals are now under consideration by the government. The officer further stated that orders for constituting 14 CWCs will be issued soon.
The selection committee has started the selection process for reconstituting CWCs since January for 15 other districts, where vacancies are slated to come up.
A member of the CWC, speaking on the condition of anonymity, shared the challenges of covering one more CWC. He said the role of the CWC is to dispose of cases for the care, protection, development, and rehabilitation of children in need of care and protection, as well as to provide for their basic needs and protection.