The Assembly committee for the welfare of women, children and the differently abled will submit a detailed report regarding special criteria to be formulated for issuing licence to day care centres. The committee, chaired by Aisha Potty, MLA, discussed the matter at a sitting held at the collectorate here on Tuesday.
The committee had suo motu taken a case and sought report from the Social Justice Department after video footage of the assault on a child at a Palarivattom-based day care centre emerged recently. The officer investigating the case said that charge sheet will be filed within a week.
Instructions were issued to the Social Justice Department to ensure strict surveillance of all day care centres functioning in the district. Strict action should be taken against centres found violating rules.
The departments of social justice and child care should ensure that day care centres had CCTV cameras and competent teachers.
Meena Kuruvilla, project director of Rajagiri Outreach and a former member of the Commission for Protection of Child Rights, said that criteria for the functioning of day care centres and play schools, including pre-school curriculum, could be formulated based on the national policy for children’s welfare. The committee directed the Social Justice Department to give a detailed report in this regard.
The committee said that compromises in the welfare of women, children and the differently abled will not be tolerated.
Officials of the social justice, health, family welfare and home departments were asked to submit recommendations for addressing various problems and to be unrelenting in taking action against the offenders against women, children and differently-abled persons.
Child marriage
The child development officer asked the committee for facilities to rein in the widespread child marriages taking place in the tribal belts of Kothamangalam.
The officer said that no transportation facilities were available to visit the tribal areas and sought an instruction in this regard to the panchayat. The committee promised to bring the issue to the notice of the government.
Steps would be taken to offer legal assistance to women in various cases. The women’s protection officer complained that proper legal aid was not forthcoming from the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and the Kerala Legal Services Authority (KELSA). Prathibha Hari, MLA, said that women were not getting legal assistance at many places.
Common panel
Lawyers were made available from the common panel for assisting women. However, lawyers from the DLSA and the KELSA were not taking the cases seriously.
Even money was being sought from clients in many cases despite the office for women protection paying them.
Ms. Hari sought to make available legal aid centered on the women protection office under the strict monitoring of the protection officer.
The committee said the DLSA should hand over complete details of cases to the women protection officer for which a recommendation would be submitted to the government.
The committee considered six petitions, including five received on Tuesday, and reviewed the action taken on previous complaints.
