Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court recently directed the Assam Government to inform it about the status of the issuance of notification for the Draft Rules and Child Protection Policy; filling of the vacancies; and the status of the social audit and tentative time of its completion by February 25, 2025.
The division bench of Justice Kalyan Rai Surana and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury issued the direction in the public interest litigation case (PIL/60/2019), while observing that the Court will take up the issues of infrastructure relating to the Juvenile Justice Board’s functioning as well as the condition of the Children Home in the state on the next date of hearing, which is fixed for February 25, 2025.
It was submitted by the Senior Government Advocate that the Draft Child Protection Policy of the State of Assam, as well as the Draft Assam State Juvenile Justice Rules, 2024, has been placed in the Cabinet portal and also sent to the Judicial Department, School Education Department, as well as the Finance Department for their final views, and that the Child Protection Policy would be placed before the Cabinet in the next sitting.
It was further submitted that steps are being taken to incorporate the direction contained in paragraph 44(i) of the order dated August 20, 2024, passed by the Supreme Court of India in Suo Moto WP(C) 3/2023 in the Draft Juvenile Justice Rules.
Noting that it will take some time to notify the Rules and Child Protection Policy, as well as to notify the appointments after the closure of the selection process, the Court adjourned the matter till the next date of hearing.
Moreover, the senior government advocate submitted that taking into account the pendency of cases before the Juvenile Justice Boards in Assam, the state would also like to explore increasing the sitting of certain Juvenile Justice Boards as per necessity, on a case-to-case basis.
Welcoming the suggestion, the Court said the government may explore the possibility of rescheduling the sitting of Juvenile Justice Boards in the State of Assam, wherever necessary, and forward it to the Court so as to enable the stakeholders to also examine it.
The matter is listed for further hearing on February 25, 2025.
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