HC pulls up Delhi govt on vacant posts in DCPCR

The Delhi High Court pulled up the city administration on Friday for its failure to fill the vacant posts of the chairperson and members in the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) since 2023, saying it is a case of lack of will.

The Delhi government counsel said there is a “bona-fide difficulty” and sought time from the court to inform how much more time would be required to complete the appointment process.

“Can a single officer in your government justify this much delay?” asked a bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia.

“Make an assessment of how much time you are going to take. These are the areas where your attention does not go…. There is no difficulty. There is a difficulty of lack of will,” the bench remarked.

The court listed the matter on February 16 and asked the government counsel to seek instructions on how much “minimum time” is required to complete the process of selection.

During the hearing, the government counsel said although there has been a delay, it is not a case of “no progress”.

The lawyer said complying with earlier orders, meetings of the selection committee were held on two occasions and the recommendations of the panel were forwarded to the competent authority whose approval is now awaited.

The court, however, said the authorities have failed to complete the process on time in spite of assurances.

It noted that on November 11, 2025, the Delhi government counsel said the scrutiny committee had completed its task and scrutinised the applications for filling up the vacancies of chairperson and members of the commission, and the selection committee, which was to be chaired by the chief minister, was likely to meet on November 18.

“How long will you take to approve the recommendations? We cannot understand. Since July 2023, the commission is non-functional and despite the court’s intervention, not once but four times, despite your assurances given twice-thrice, you have not been able to do the needful till date. What do you expect from us?” the court asked the lawyer.

In its petition filed in 2024, the National Child Development Council has said the DCPCR is functioning without a chairperson since July 2, 2023, and keeping the posts vacant for so long is clearly a violation of provisions of the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights Rules.

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“The functioning of DCPCR has been severely affected since the tenure of Anurag Kundu (former chairperson) came to an end on July 2, 2023. Also, the website of DCPCR shows that the body is functioning without even a member at present. There are media reports on the sorry state of affairs ever since the tenure of the previous chairperson came to an end,” the petition says.

It says clause 8(2) of the DCPCR Rules states that a vacancy caused by death, resignation or any other reason shall be filled up by nomination within 90 days from the date of occurrence of such vacancy.

The plea says the DCPCR is a statutory watchdog of the petitioner and has also played a vital role in the monitoring of the rights, reviewing safeguards, inquiring into violations and advising the government on policy formulation and amendments.