The Supreme Court, in one of its recent judgements, has pronounced the powers to conduct an inquiry in Child Rights issues.
The Top Court has settled the 'disputes' between the National and State Commission for Protection of Child Rights regarding the above-mentioned powers.
The bench of Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Aniruddha Bose held in the ruling:
There is no ouster of jurisdiction of any Commission. The only constraint placed by
Section 13(2) of the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 is that if the State Commission has already started an inquiry, the National Commission should naturally refrain from inquiring into the matter. This, however, does not mean that the National Commission cannot go into the other larger questions which may have led to the specific incidents of violation of child rights which need to be inquired into.
The Court continuously stated:
Even a State Commission has the power to inquire into those matters which fall within its purview and even if the illegality is such that it has interState or international ramifications, e.g. a child is being illegally sent for adoption abroad. if the State Commission in such a case asks for assistance from the National Commission or some other State Commission where the child may have been illegally trafficked, the National Commission or the other State Commission(s) should cooperate with the Commission inquiring into the matter.
How the question on powers to conduct an inquiry arose?
Some of the print media reported that childcare institution based in Jalpaiguri in West Bengal had indulged in large scale trafficking of children. Upon the spread of the story, NCPCR took cognizance of these reports and summoned ADGP.
He then refused to appear before them and instead chose to file a writ petition before Calcutta High Court. The High Court in its ruling stayed the direction of the NCPCR mainly on the ground that the State Commission had already taken cognizance of the matter.
The Court then disposed of the appeal filed by the National Commission and directed ADGP to reply to the National Commissioner on account of him refusing to appear before the NCPCR.
The Court held:
Police officials should realize that when the Commissions constituted under the CPCR Act ask for some relevant information, they must respectfully reply to the same and not rake up the dispute of so called 'jurisdiction'. Even the police officials must realize that these Commissions have been constituted for the welfare of the children. Even assuming that the WBCPCR had started an inquiry, we see no reason why Dr. Rajesh Kumar could not have provided the information to the NCPCR. It was not for him to question the jurisdiction of the NCPCR. If any official is asked for information by any of the Commissions, he is duty-bound to reply to the letters of the Commission. One Commission may raise the issue that since it is seized of the matter and is inquiring into it, the National Commission should not start another inquiry, but it is not for the officials to raise such an issue. Whether an inquiry has actually been initiated or not can be decided by an official. This has to be decided either by the Commission or by a Court of law. Therefore, in our view, Dr. Rajesh Kumar would have been better advised to furnish information to the NCPCR rather than challenging the jurisdiction of the NCPCR.
The Court also criticized how the incident became an example of an ego clash between two commissions which it stated as 'unhealthy.'
The Court noted this aspect:
It's so sad! We start with a lament because institutions set up to protect children have virtually forsaken them in a fight over their so-called jurisdictions.
We are constrained to observe that in this clash of egos between the State Commission (WBCPCR) and the National Commission (NCPCR), for this entire period, other than the police taking action, nothing was done on the administrative side to set matters right.
Unfortunately, in this case, there has been no cooperation rather mudslinging at each other. We would like to reiterate and reemphasise that there are no jurisdictional issues involved.
The Court too concluded that the NCPCR had already indulged in the inquiry before the State Commission interfered.
The judgement was delivered by Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Aniruddha Bose on 13-01-2020.
Read Judgement Here:
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