Supreme Court's ire over non implementation of Juvenile Welfare Act

The Supreme Court today expressed its anger over government's failure to implement the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, for corrective measures and reformation of juvenile offenders saying the "entire Act has been made a mockery".

"This is a pathetic situation. The entire Act has been made a mockery. Most of the states have not complied with the Act.

"With reference to some states, there is only nominal compliance," a Bench of Justices R V Raveendran and H L Gokhale, said.

The apex court made the remarks while granting four weeks to solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam to come out with a response on the steps taken for implementation of the law.

Dealing with a PIL complaining about government's apathy in implementing the legislation, the Bench lamented though the Act was enacted a decade ago most of the states have not even constituted the District Welfare Boards and Child Welfare Committees as mandated by Sections 4 and 29 respectively of the Act.

"Some of the children are being used by the officials. The Juvenile Justice Board is unnecessarily detaining some of them. In Delhi, some of them have run away from remand homes," the Bench said.

The apex court said it was more concerned with the implmentation of the Act by the bigger states.

"Sikkim, Daman Diu, Meghalaya might have complied with but we are concerned with the compliance by the bigger states," the Bench remarked when the counsel, appearing for Sikkim, submitted that the state had complied with the provisions of the Act.

The solicitor general assured the court that the Centre was in the process of evolving an effective mechanism for strict compliance of the Act. He submitted the Centre was engaged in consulation with the National Commission for Children and the Union Ministry for Women and Child Welfare in this regard.