Nearly half of the senior posts at the apex child right's body, NCPCR, have been vacant for the past three years because a suitable candidate could not be selected, the Centre told Parliament today.
In February, the Delhi High Court pulled up the Women and Child Development Ministry and asked it to fill up vacancies in the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) within 90 days.
The panel should have six members and a chairperson as per the Act of Parliament under which it was created. But, three positions of members have been lying vacant since 2015, when the current commission was appointed.
"No suitable candidate could be selected for the post of Members in National Commission of Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)," Dr Virendra Kumar, Minister of State for Women and Child Development, told Rajya Sabha today in response to a question on why there was a delay in appointing officials.
Earlier this week, the ministry advertised the vacancies and invited applications for the three posts that have been unoccupied since 2015, as well as for the remaining three positions of members, whose three-year term will expire in November.
The government will also be inviting applications for the post of NCPCR chairperson as the term of the incumbent ends in September.
The NCPCR is a statutory body set up in March, 2007 under the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act, 2005.
The role of the body is to protect, promote and defend child rights in the country.
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