State child rights panel faces manpower crunch

MUMBAI: Parents and schools locked in fee disputes and child right violations will have nowhere to go. The Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights

MUMBAI: Parents and schools locked in fee disputes and child right violations will have nowhere to go. The Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MSCPCR), which is facing a staff crunch, is yet to appoint new members as mandated by the Bombay high court (HC) in May. To make matters worse, the divisional fee regulatory panel, constituted last year, is unable to hear cases as it is still looking out for premises to work from.

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The state government constituted fee regulatory panels in each of the divisions on May 12, as specified under the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Collection of Fee) Act, 2011. A school management is supposed to approach these panels if a fee hike crosses the 15% increase proposed by schools and approved by the executive Parents Teachers Association (PTA) panel.

Though the Mumbai division panel has received several applications from aggrieved parents and schools, the panel is yet to commence hearings. “We are hunting for a place to set up the office. Until then, we cannot hold any hearings,” said BB Chavan, deputy director of education (Mumbai region) and panel secretary.

Chavan said that they couldn’t even respond to the hundreds of applications pouring in. “Since we haven’t framed guidelines for approaching the panel, we can’t reply to the applications,” he said.

Meanwhile, the MSCPCR, which suspended work in June, resumed its hearings recently. But they are yet to appoint new members as mandated by the HC. “The court gave us six months to make the new appointments, but we cannot stop work till then as there are many cases to be heard. We are holding hearings for now; the orders will be issued later,” said AN Tripathi, secretary of the commission.

But even the hearings are few and far between, as the secretary also holding the additional charge of the state women’s rights panel. They also depend on the availability of the chairperson, Sanjay Kumar, since the court ordered that both the office-bearers must be present to preside over the hearings.