The Bombay High Court recently raised concerns over the 40,051 cases pending before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB, 10,008 cases) and the Child Welfare Committee (CWC, 30,0043 cases) and said the same would amount to 'nullifying spirit' of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. A division bench of Justice Nitin M Jamdar and Justice Manjusha A Deshpande was on September 27 hearing a PIL by the NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan and its director Sampurna Behura seeking direction to implement extensive 2018 guidelines of the Supreme Court. The apex court had highlighted the failure of states to implement provisions of the JJ Act. The Supreme Court had said that JJBs and CWCs should have a constitutional obligation to have sittings regularly so that a minimal number of inquiries are pending at any given point of time and justice is given to all juveniles in conflict with law and social justice to children in need of care and protection. The petitioners referred to a reply by the respondent authorities about the pendency of over 40,000 cases before JJBs and CWCs as on May 3, 2023. The petitioners, through advocate Tejesh Dande, also submitted that Section 14(2) of the JJ Act stipulates that JJB has to make an inquiry within four months from the date of the first production of the child before it and a maximum extension of two months can be considered. Moreover, as per section 36 (2) of the JJ Act, the social investigation of the child shall be completed within 15 days to enable the CWC to pass the final order within four months of the first production of the child. It said with such 'legislative mandate' the pendency amounted to "nullifying the spirit" of the Act. The bench took note of the pendency and asked the secretary of the Maharashtra Women and Children Department to issue necessary instructions to collect up-to-date data regarding the pendency of cases before the JJBs and CWCs. The court asked the data should provide the date of institution and disposal of the cases in the last three years, and it should also provide the details of the pending cases, and it should also give an explanation of reasons for pendency and difficulties, if any, faced by the Boards or Committees. After the data was collected, the concerned secretary was asked to analyse responses from the boards or committees, review them, and place them before the high court through an affidavit. The court also asked the authorities to respond as to whether the database of missing children, trafficked children and follow-up of adoption cases has been prepared, the status of the data collected, and how the same is being utilised to achieve the object of the JJ Act. The bench also sought from the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority how it has been extending assistance and cooperation to the government authorities as mandated by Supreme Court directions. It also asked the state government to inform by the next hearing as to what action it proposed to take based on reports submitted by the NGO and Tata Institute of Social Sciences on the issue. The high court will hear the PIL next on October 26.
