KOZHIKODE: The Child Welfare Committees (CWC) in 11 districts have crossed their three-year terms and the government had to cancel the move to reconstitute six of them with the coming into force of the new Juvenile Justice (care and protection of children) Act , 2015. Only the CWCs in Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha and Kottayam are yet to complete their tenures. The committees in six districts have been functioning for more than a year after their terms ended.
Though the social justice department had issued a notification inviting applications for new committees in Kasargod, Kannur, Malappuram, Palakkad, Thrissur and Idukki districts in January last, it had to be cancelled following the enactment of the new JJ Act 2015 replacing the Act of 2000. “A new notification would be issued soon as per the JJ Act of 2015,” said social justice department director T.V Anupama. In some of these districts, the selection panel headed by a retired High Court judge had selected new members.
According to sources, the new Act has included the representatives of well-known NGOs in the selection panel and fixed new qualifications for the members. Also, while the old Act allows the extension of the committee till a new one takes over, the new one prohibits extension and the selection of the same committee for the second term. The legal validity of the decisions of the ‘defunct’ CWC is in doubt. Kannur CWC chairman T.A. Mathew told DC that the chair cannot be vacated. “We have a round-the-clock job with calls from different homes and police frequently.” Each of the five-member panel gets Rs 1,500 as sitting fee and at least 20 sittings should be conducted every month.
