Karnataka - Mangalore   

Lack of infrastructure, staff plague CWC

MANGALORE: The Child Welfare Committee (CWC), vested with judicial powers to uphold the interests of children, is bogged down by lack of infrastructure.

Its responsibilities include reaching out to children in need of care and protection, ensuring their appropriate rehabilitation and restoration, including passing directions to parents or guardians, and “documenting and maintaining detailed case record, along with a case summary of every case dealt with…” It is also expected to coordinate with the Police and Labour departments and the State Government and liaise with the corporate sector and non-governmental organisations, as per section 25 of the Rules under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000.

However, the CWC in Mangalore, which has been recognised as one of the very active committees, does not have its own office. It is functioning from a Children’s Observation Home in Bondel without any staff of its own or infrastructure such as chairs, tables or even a room or a cupboard to keep its files.

CWC member Geo D’Silva said the committee was forced to “encroach upon” a part of the Observation Home, where the Juvenile Justice Board — a body that deals with cases of children in conflict with the laws — holds its judicial sittings. He said the CWC had kept its 2,000-odd files on a table in the absence of a cupboard and a room.

The CWC has written umpteen letters to various officials seeking early grant of a room, furniture and staff such as a clerk, an office attendant and a child counsellor. “We receive about 60 cases a month,” Mr. D’Silva said and added that the members of the committee were forced to write the documents, apart from the judgments.

According to Section 16 of the rules under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, the State Government or voluntary organisation recognised by it, has to set up observation homes separately for girls and boys with separate residential facilities for three age groups. Section 24 of the rules says that the committee should hold its sittings on the premises of a children’s home or a place in its proximity or a suitable premises in any institution run under the Act.

Deputy Director of the Women and Child Welfare Department A. Shakunthala said her department had offered a place for the CWC at its office in Vamanjoor. The CWC had to get the required infrastructure from the office of the Director of Women and Child Welfare based in Bangalore.

Mr. D’Silva pointed out that Vamajoor office was located about 20 km away from the city and people would find it difficult to access the CWC if it functioned from there. He said there were unoccupied places in many government buildings in the heart of the city from where the CWC could function.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Lack of infrastructure, staff plague CWC
Children in observation home have no counsellor
Seven file nominations for Council polls
Little importance given to child rights in country

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu