HC directs Centre to grant funds to UT to form Protection of Child Rights Commission

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday directed the Union of India to grant financial assistance to the UT Administration within a week for the establishment of the Protection of Child Rights Commission.

A case pertaining to the forming of the Commission for Protection of Child Rights in the states of Punjab and Haryana and UT Administration came up for hearing before a Division Bench comprising of Chief Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain.

The court further directed the UT Administration to get financial assistance from the commission within a month.

During the resumed hearing of the case, the court called the situation with regard to implementation of child rights laws as extremely unfortunate and admonished the government of Haryana, Panjab and Chandigarh for not taking laws for safeguarding children's rights and abolition of child labour seriously.

The Punjab government informed the court that it had formed the commission already. The chairman was appointed on October 18 and three members on December 12. Moreover, Haryana government submitted that approval for the setting up the commission had been granted in the recently held cabinet meeting.

Petitioner Hemant Goswami, who argued the case in person, highlighted the dichotomy of the child labour legislations in India.

Goswami pointed out that when a person between 14 years to 18 years was not competent to enter into any contract with anyone for not being a major (age of contract), how could the child enter into an employment contract and how could it be legal to take work from a child even between the age group of 14 to 18 too.

The high court adjourned the hearing of the case to January 9 for final arguments and has asked the petitioner Hemant Goswami and Anil Malhotra, counsel for National Commission for Child Rights, to give in their suggestions so as to enforce the laws to protect the rights of the children.

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