The Tamil Nadu government today informed the Madras High Court that it has accorded administrative sanction for various works and initiatives related to juvenile justice system to be taken up at a total cost of over Rs 60 crore.
The Principal Secretary of Social Welfare and Noon Meal Programme department filed an additional affidavit giving details of compliance of the directions of the high court's Juvenile Justice Committee given earlier.
The affidavit filed before a division bench of justices Huluvadi G Ramesh and R Dhandapani submitted that Rs 60.4 crore had been sanctioned toward construction of new building for observation home for boys and girls in Madurai.
It also said the government has created 32 posts of District Child Protection Officers.
Listing out other initiatives, the affidavit said a Juvenile Justice Fund had been created with a corpus of Rs 25 lakh for the welfare and rehabilitation of children as early as in November, 2016 itself.
The bench, which had already appointed advocate T. Mohan as amicus curie in the matter, directed him to go through the affidavit and come out with suggestions, if any, and adjourned the petition to June 11.
Chief Justice Indira Banerjee had earlier suo motu (on her own) taken up the petition with regard to implementation of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act as per the Feb 9 last directions of the Supreme Court.
The apex court had given the order on a PIL by Sampurna Behura, who had raised various questions over virtual non-implementation of laws beneficial to the voiceless children, particularly the juvenile.
It had highlighted the failure of the states to implement various provisions like establishment of child welfare committees, justice boards and special juvenile police units and prayed for directions to improve the living conditions of juveniles in conflict with law.
The Supreme Court had said since the involvement of the machinery of the state was critical to child rights and effective implementation of the Juvenile Justice act, it would be appropriate if each high court and its Juvenile Justice Committees continue a proactive role in children's welfare.
To make the involvement and process more meaningful, the bench had requested the Chief Justices of high courts to register proceedings on their own so that roadblocks, if any, were meaningfully addressed.
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