Himachal Pradesh HC uphelds termination of Sirmaur district CWC chairperson

SHIMLA: Upholding the decision of the state government to terminate the services of chairperson of Child Welfare Committee of Sirmaur district , Himachal Pradesh high court has dismissed a writ petition challenging the decision of government. The court said the appointment of a person as a chairperson or as a member of the CWC is not a matter of employment or even a matter of contract.

Therefore, the termination of such appointments would not actually result in civil consequence in the strict sense of the term.


Challenging termination of her appointment as the chairperson of the CWC under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, Vijay Shree Gautam had filed the writ petition. She was appointed as the chairperson of the Sirmaur district CWC with effect from September 12, 2016.

“It appears that on the basis of some report, this court took suo motu cognizance of an allegation that the petitioner was using the national emblem on her letter head. A public interest litigation was suo motu registered,” observed the division bench of Chief Justice V Ramasubramanian and Justice Anoop Chitkara in the judgment decided on Thursday.

The court said petitioner was issued a notice and the state was also served with a notice. In response, the petitioner filed an affidavit to the effect that she ceased to use the above Emblem on her letter head and that she would focus on the welfare of children. Recording the affidavit so filed by the petitioner, the suo motu writ petition was closed.

The court said but thereafter, the trouble for the petitioner began. A show cause notice was issued on November 6 last year framing four charges against her, including that she showed reluctance to share any information with the directorate, that she failed to comply with the directions of the Juvenile Justice Committee of the high court regarding the surrender of letter pads and records containing the national emblem, that she failed to convene quarterly meetings of the CWC; and that there were 51 cases pending with the CWC, though only eight cases were decided during the quarter.

The court said petitioner gave a reply to the show cause notice on December 10 last year contending that none of the charges would hold good. Thereafter, an enquiry followed in which the charges were held proved. As a consequence, the government issued the notification on June 7 this year terminating her appointment, forcing her to come up with the above writ petition, it added.

“Though, the counsel for petitioner very valiantly pointed out the discrepancies in the enquiry report and the manner in which the findings were recorded in a perverse manner, we do not think that the impugned action needs any interference,” it added.

The court said it may be true that if the charges, the evidence and the findings are analysed thread bare with a scanner, it may be able to find out that some of the findings are not correct. But that is not the task of the writ court under Article 226 of the Constitution. It is especially so in a matter where there is neither a contract nor employment to an office of profit, it said.

It further said that in the scheme of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the CWC holds a position of trust. Since it is not possible for the government to directly take care of the children who are in need of care, the government contemplates CWCs in every district.

Observing that in such circumstances, it is not possible for this court to find out whether the findings of the enquiry officer were perverse or not and whether the procedure prescribed by law was strictly followed or not to test the correctness of the order of the termination, the court said impugned order of June 7 does not call for any interference and dismissed the writ petition.