The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has directed Uttar Pradesh women and child welfare department to complete all formalities within a month for rolling out the Centre’s “Mission Vatsalya”. The court has taken serious note of non-implementation of the centrally-sponsored scheme in the state even after a year of its roll-out.
A division bench of Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Rajan Roy on May 19 observed: “The Principal Secretary, Women and Child Welfare Department, government of Uttar Pradesh, shall coordinate with other departments and ensure that the aforesaid exercise is completed within a period of one month.”
“So that the matter can be placed in the meeting of the Cabinet at the earliest considering the object behind the scheme, as, ultimately the beneficiaries are children living in protection homes,” added the court. Appearing on behalf of U.P. women and child welfare department, deputy secretary Dinesh Chandra Pandey apprised the court that the matter (file) had to be processed through three departments namely finance, law and “Karmik” (personnel).
Pandey assured the court that the process was under way and within a month all formalities will be completed and the file will be placed before the state cabinet for approval. The Centre had rolled out the “Mission Vatsalya” scheme on April 1, 2022. The scheme, formerly known as child protection services scheme, is for the welfare and rehabilitation of children in difficult circumstances. The scheme will benefit all child protection homes, including government and private ones. The court listed the case for next hearing on July 7.