New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Wednesday gave three months more to govt to make the now defunct Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) fully functional.During the hearing, the counsel for Delhi govt informed the bench that chief minister, who also holds the women and child development portfolio, decided that there is a need to have a broader pool of candidates to select from, as until now there was a limited pool of around 927 candidates who were earlier shortlisted. It added that the decision has been taken to re-issue the advertisements, and vacancies will be filled in three months time. Taking note of the submission, the court said it “hoped” govt will stick to the deadline and listed the matter for Nov to take stock of progress.The court had earlier pulled up govt for its “callousness” in filling vacancies in the panel and directed the selection process for such posts to be completed in a time-bound manner. It pointed out that the commission is non-functional since July 2023, as children’s rights took a backseat. The bench had also expressed concern about the menace of substance abuse among children and directed the authorities to complete the selection of membersfor District Child Protection Units (DCPUs) within eight weeks.“There is no gainsaying that DCPCR performs certain important statutory functions to ensure the protection of child rights. However, on account of vacancies, such functions are not being performed, as a result of which it is the rights of the children which take a back seat.” HC stated.
