ROHIT SITAPATIKUMAR VERMA Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ-petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India in the nature of a Public Interest Litigation is at the instance of a legal practitioner and has been filed for effective functioning of the Child Welfare Committee constituted under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'). The petitioner has prayed for a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction upon the respondents to immediately take appropriate steps for effective functioning of the Child Welfare Committee constituted under Section 29 of the Act. The petitioner has also prayed for appropriate directions to the respondents to immediately stop keeping juveniles in need of care and protection in remand homes and set up an alternative Children's Home across the State as required mandatorily under Section 34 of the Act. The petitioner has also prayed to pass necessary orders directing the respondents to immediately make payment of monetary compensation to the parents of all the juveniles, including the parents of juvenile Ajay Hirabhai Parmar, who was kept at the observation/remand home from April 17, 2012 to April 19, 2012.

(2.) The case made out by the petitioner in this petition may be summarised as under :

(3.) It is the case of the State Government that none of the fundamental rights or any other legal right of the petitioner could be said to have been infringed or violated and, therefore, the present petition in the nature of a Public Interest Litigation deserves to be dismissed in limine. According to the State Government, the Child Welfare Committee is a statutory body constituted under Section 29(5) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. The committee shall consists of a Chairperson and four other members as the State Government may have to appoint, of whom at least one shall be a woman and another an expert of matters concerning children. Under Section 29(5) of the Act, the Committee functions as a Bench of Magistrates and possesses the same powers conferred by the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 on a Metropolitan Magistrate or as the case may be, a Judicial Magistrate, First Class. According to the State Government, vide Notification dated February 14, 2011, the Gujarat Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules, 2011 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Rules') were framed and published in its official gazette. According to Rule 24(4) of the Rules, the Committee shall meet a minimum of one day a week, which may be extended by the State Government, depending on the case and pendency of the work. Under the said Rule, the Child Welfare Committee at Ahmedabad meets on every Thursday in a week.