HC Seeks Reply From Govt Over Vacancies In Odisha’s Child Rights Panel

Cuttack: Expressing dismay over the functioning of the Odisha State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (OSCPCR) with all six posts of members vacant, the Orissa High Court has issued a notice to the state government seeking a reply by March 9.

Haering a petition seeking its intervention regarding the persisting vacancies, the two-judge bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice M S Raman on Thursday stated, “OSCPCR being a statutory body, there appears to be no justification for keeping these posts vacant. The result can be defeating the very purpose of such a commission.”

Appearing in person, the petitioner, lawyer and human rights activist Prabir Kumar Das, submitted that four posts have been lying vacant since May 19, 2020, and the other two since January 10, 2021, and August 25, 2022. The vacancies have resulted in an increase in the pendency of cases, which has gone up to 2.372, by December 31, 2022, he added.

The OSCPCR was established on November 1, 2010, under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act 2005, which provides for speedy trial of offences against children or of violation of child rights.