B. Pandiaraja (49), who has been member of Madurai District Vigilance and Monitoring committee for the third time, has been running from pillar to post seeking appointment as social worker member of Madurai District Child Welfare Committee for which he was selected in 2015.
After exhausting all available options of seeking interventions of the officials, he has sent a legal notice for contempt of court proceedings as the officials have not considered Madurai Bench of Madras High Court order of April 2019 which said that Mr. Pandiaraja will have preference as per rules.
A graduate in social work, Mr. Pandiaraja was selected one of the 15 eligible persons for appointment of member of CWC in 2015 by a panel of officials comprising Principal District Judge, Commissioner of Police (Madurai City) and Collector.
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The Secretary of Social Welfare Department on November 15, 2018, appointed a five-member CWC.
“Appointment should have been made based on selection panel’s order of preference of the 15 eligible names as per the provisions of Tamil Nadu Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules. Thereby, the first five ranked names should have become the members of CWC. However, 7th ranked and 11th ranked members were appointed,” Mr. Pandiaraja said.
However, one of them had to resign as he was a Government school teacher and another did not join CWC.
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“In this circumstances, the Government should have selected two other members who were ranked high among the 15 eligible names,” he added. But, instead, the Government declared the two posts as vacant and called for a fresh interview in February 2019.
The rule says that the casual vacancy of the post of chairman or member should be filled from the eligible names in the order of preference recommended by the selection committee and they shall hold office for the remaining period (three years) of the chairperson or members in whose place he/she is appointed,” Mr. Pandiaraja said.
When he questioned this, the district and State officials refused to divulge his ranking among the selected names of persons. This detail was not revealed even when Mr. Pandiaraja approached the High Court.
However, a recent reply given by the Social Defence Department under Right to Information Act revealed that Mr. Pandiaraja was ranked 5th among the selected names.
“This shows that I should have been preferred for appointment of members of the CWC when it was first constituted in November 2018. I wonder why I was ignored at the first chance, in violation of the Juvenile Justice Rules. At least, I should have been selected when two vacancies arose,” he added.
When National Commission for Scheduled Castes intervened into the issue, Secretary of Department to Social Welfare, in his reply, raised doubts over Mr. Pandiaraja’s ability to contribute full time for the CWC that has a mandatory 20 sittings a month “to render his services to the children who need care and protection” since he was in the vigilance committee and Labour Welfare Department.
“It was not a valid reason because, even the selection panel was aware of my other roles and selected me as an eligible person,” he said. He also refused to buy the contention that a fresh interview had the possibility of more qualified and experienced candidates opting for the position.
“The officials have no answer for not selecting me though I was eligible. It looks like they do not want me as I am actively involved in District Vigilance Committee,” he said.
Madurai District Child Protection Officer A. Ganesan said that the appointment was done only by Secretary of Social Welfare Department and Commissioner of Social Defence.
Commissioner of Social Defence R. Lalvena said that he would look into the issue.