File Photo: Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court today pulled up the government for the mismatch between the "wonderful" welfare schemes for children belonging to lower strata of society and their implementation, saying the ground reality was "completely different".
"All the ideas you have seems OK. Government of India has wonderful laws, ideas and schemes but the things are different on the ground," a social justice bench comprising justices Madan B Lokur and UU Lalit said.
The observations came while Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta informed the court about the schemes which the government has formulated for the welfare of children.
The ASG said the government had introduced a scheme named Sabla in 2010-11 on a pilot basis, which was being implemented in 205 districts across all states and union territories.
Sabla aims at all-round development of adolescent girls of 11-18 years by making them "self-reliant". The scheme has two components of nutrition and non-nutrition with the former aiming at improving the health and nutrition status of the adolescent girls, the latter addresses their developmental needs.
"It is a wonderful scheme but what is happening? You people do a lot of work, make plans but what happens? Ground realities are completely different," the bench said.
The apex court also expressed concern over non-filling up of vacancies, including for the post of Chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), despite its directions.
Earlier, the court had slammed the Centre for its "casual" approach towards missing children and imposed a fine on it for not complying with its directions like providing the status of such children across the country.
Referring to the statutory provision on vacancies, it had said the Chairperson of NCPCR and its members were required to be appointed within 90 days of the posts falling vacant.