Delhi HC seeks response of GNCTD on PIL to expeditiously fill vacant position of Chairperson and Members of DCPCR

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought responses from Government of NCT Delhi (GNCTD) and others on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) to expeditiously fill the vacant position of Chairperson and Members in Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR), within a fixed time period.

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought responses from the Government of NCT Delhi (GNCTD) and others on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) to expeditiously fill the vacant position of Chairperson and Members in Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR), within a fixed time period. The bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora showed displeasure with the Delhi Government again over the delay in said appointments and said 'where there is a will there is a way'. Court fixed July 16, 2024 for detail hearing in the matter.

The petitioner, National Child Development Council a self-governing child welfare organization through plea stated that DCPCR, is functioning without a chairperson since 02.07.2023 and keeping the post vacant for so long is clearly a violation of clause 8(2) of the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights Rules. The petitioner organization through Advocate Robin Raju also submitted a representation to the GNCTD requesting to fill the post of chairperson of DCPCR by highlighting the current moribund state of a body (that used to be pro-active) without the chairperson.

Plea further stated that the functioning of DCPCR has been severely affected since the tenure of former Chairman Anurag Kundu came to an end on July 2, 2023. DCPCR has been functioning without a chairperson for more than 8 months now. Also, the website of DCPCR shows that the body is functioning without even a member at present. There have been media reports on the sorry state of affairs ever since the tenure of the chairperson came to an end. There is a report published by Times of India on November 30, 2023, regarding inability of DCPCR body to pay office rent and clear dues to the tune of Rs. 3 Crores at that time. The report also points out that the chatbot Bal Mitra launched by the DCPCR with a lot of claims on February 1, 2023, is also no longer functional due to the lack of a team. There is also a severe staff crunch in the DCPCR body, and that has resulted the pending list of cases to increase. (ANI)

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