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PMO delays, ministry gets court flak -Ananya Sengupta

-The Telegraph

New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government's practice of letting the Prime Minister's Office take all the major decisions on behalf of virtually every ministry resulted in the women and child development ministry receiving flak from the Supreme Court this week.

On Wednesday, the court rapped the ministry for allowing the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights to remain vacant for the past three months since the tenures of its previous chairperson, Kushal Singh, and six other members expired on October 10.

What the ministry did not tell the court was that it had moved the file for the appointments to the Prime Minister's Office a couple of months ago. The development has left ministry officials feeling hard done by.

"The decision has to be taken by the PMO, not by us. We don't know what is expected of us," a senior official said.

Earlier, it was the ministry that selected the members and chairperson of the commission and forwarded the names to the PMO, which generally rubber-stamped them. But, in keeping with the new trend set by the Modi government, the ministry now has no role in the matter, officials said.

While Maneka Gandhi, the minister, wasn't available for comments, she had told The Telegraph late last month that the ministry "has not sent a shortlist to the PMO" and that "the chairperson will be selected by the PM".

The Supreme Court was hearing a public interest plea by the NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan on the issue of missing children and the lack of official efforts to trace them when the general subject of the government's commitment to child rights cropped up. The court observed that the government didn't seem serious about child rights.

"No chairman has been appointed for the commission. I checked the website and not a single person has been appointed in the commission. It is a statutory body and you cannot say that you don't appoint anybody in the commission," the court said.

Only after the chairperson is appointed can the remaining six members be nominated. Ironically, the Modi government prides itself on its ability to take quick decisions.

"The PMO is delaying not just the appointments (to the commission) but also schemes like the Nirbhaya Centres (for women victims of violence)," a ministry official said.

"It also delayed the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme, which will finally be launched on January 22. While it is great that the Prime Minister is taking an interest in such projects, it is imperative that such delays are minimised."

The ministry has been asked to inform the court about the appointments to the commission on February 12.

Ministry officials said they had no plans to take the matter up with the Prime Minister, who they felt had a lot on his plate. They hoped the Prime Minister would take a decision by the date of the next hearing. If not, the ministry will ask the court for more time, risking another rap.