By IANS,
New Delhi: The central government has informed the Delhi High Court that it would lay down guidelines for appointments to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).
Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam informed a division bench of Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S. Muralidhar earlier this week that the government was “working on a mechanism so that appointment to the child rights panel is genuine and only those persons who have expertise in working in that field are appointed.
“Our motto is to bring transparency into the appointment process,” he added while assuring the bench that the guidelines would be finalised by Jan 6.
The court was hearing a public suit by an NGO, Association for Development, which had termed as illegal and arbitrary the appointment of Sandhya Bajaj and Dipa Dixit to the panel.
The petitioner alleged that the new members did not have requisite qualifications and expertise as required under the Protection of Child Rights Act.
“The act of the government in appointing them as members of the commission is illegal and arbitrary and smacks of nepotism and favouritism in public appointments,” said advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing on behalf of the NGO.