Justice (Retd.) Yaqoob Mir to head panel
By: Ibni Maqbool
Srinagar: In a significant move, the administration of Jammu & Kashmir has constituted a selection committee for making key appointments in the Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs) and Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) in the Union Territory.
The department of Social Welfare has issued a notification for constitution of six-member selection committee headed by Justice Muhammad Yaqoob Mir, former Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court.
According to the notification, a copy of which is in possession of The Precious Kashmir, Mission Director, Integrated Child Protection Scheme(ICPS), Dr Sindhu Kapoor( Dean and Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Cluster University of Jammu), Dr. Nancy Mengi (Head and Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work, Central University, Jammu), Rajeev Khajuria (President/CEO, National Development Foundation, Jammu) and a representative of UT Commission for Protection of Child Rights, J&K, shall be members of the committee.
The tenure of the committee shall be for three years, the notification states.
The quorum of the committee shall not be less than four members, including the chairperson and member-secretary.
The JJB is a statutory body constituted under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. It comprises of a metropolitan magistrate or a judicial magistrate of first class and two social workers.
The Child Welfare Committees are also constituted under the Juvenile Justice Act. Each CWC comprises a chairperson, and four other members, of whom at least one shall be a woman and another an expert on the matters concerning children.
It is worthwhile to mention that the Government had twice given extension to members of JJBs and CWCs in the past two years.
In January 2021, the Social Welfare department had granted one-year extension to JJB and CWC members.
“During the process of selection of fresh Juvenile Justice Boards and Child Welfare Committees under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Welfare) Act, 2015 and Juvenile Justice(Child and Welfare) Model Rules, 2016, the existing Juvenile Justice Boards and Welfare Committees shall be allowed to continue their functioning for period of one year or till such fresh selections are made as per the prescribed procedure, whichever is earlier,” read the order issued by the department.
A similar order was also issued by the Social Welfare department in January this year to grant extension to members of JJBs and chairpersons/ members of CWCs till these vacancies are filled.
