Srinagar: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh on Wednesday dismissed two petitions challenging advertisement notifications regarding appointment of members of Child Welfare Committees(CWCs) and Juvenile Justice Boards(JJBs).
A Division Bench comprising Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Puneet Gupta also imposed Rs one lakh as costs on the petitioners while dismissing their pleas.
The petitioners were one hundred in number and 85 of them have been appointed either as chairpersons or members of CWCs and JJBs pursuant to the advertisement notifications which they had challenged before the court.
In keeping with the court direction, Director, Mission Vatsalya, Department of Social Welfare had produced in a “sealed cover” selection list of candidates for the post of Chairpersons or Members of JJBs and CWCs.
Pointing out that “all the 100 petitioners have participated in the selection process, out of which, 85 have already made it to the selection, the Bench said: “Although looking to the conduct exhibited by the petitioners in this litigation, we could have directed their ouster from their office, notwithstanding their selection made by the selection committee pursuant to the Notifications, yet, we have decided to take a lenient view in the matter with a hope that the petitioners would take a lesson from here and would never think of indulging in forum shopping or misleading the Court to derive any permanent or temporary unfair advantage.”
Dismissing both the petitions the court imposed an exemplary costs of Rs1 lakh on the petitioners asking them to deposit the same in the Registry of the Court within four weeks.
Observing that the dismissal of the petitions shall pave way for the selection committee to finalize the selection, the Bench said: “We hope and trust that the Competent Authority shall act in the matter without any further delay and constitute the CWCs and JJBs in accordance with the 2015 Act and the Rules framed thereunder.”
The petitioners were either Chairpersons or Members of the CWCs and JJBs appointed under the different provisions of Jammu and Kashmir Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2013. The Chairpersons and Members of CWCs and JJBs were appointed initially for a period of three years.
The term of JJBs Members expired on 12 January 2021. As far as Chairpersons and Members of CWCs are concerned, their term came to an end on 6 February 2021.
However, in terms of Government Order (No. 13-SW of 2021 dated 27.01.2021), the term of existing members of JJBs and CWCs was extended for a further period of one year or till fresh selection was made as per the prescribed procedure whichever was earlier. The process of selection for appointment of the Members of JJBs and the Chairpersons and Members of CWCs was initiated vide Advertisement Notification (No.01 SC (MV)) and Notification No. 02 SC (MV) of 2022 on dated 1 August 2022 respectively. All the petitioners had called in question both the advertisement notifications on multiple grounds.