HC asks J'Khand govt to fill up vacancies of staff in remand homes

The Jharkhand High Court has directed the state to fill up all vacancies of staff in remand houses or shelter homes soon or else salary of the secretary of social welfare department will not be paid.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Amitav Kumar Gupta yesterday ordered the state government to file a counter affidavit (CA) to this effect soon.

The court has taken suo motu petition and the second petitioner in the case is NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan.

The division bench was on July 4 told that the government was in the process of filling all the posts of remand homes in the state.

The petitioner counsel, Anup Kumar Agrawal, however, submitted before the bench that the staff position in the remand houses was not satisfactory.

The children are living there in unhygienic conditions. Doctors seldom visit the remand homes. The state is not taking care of their education. The remand homes are not well protected and safe, as a result inmates flee from there, he had said.

Government counsel R R Mishra submitted that the state was making all efforts to make the remand houses fully protected. The vacancies will be filled soon, he said.

The division bench directed the state government to comply with all directions of the court. The court also ordered the state government that all vacancies of staff for remand houses be filled early.

The case was adjourned for the next month.