HC pulls up Delhi Govt on vacant posts in DCPCR

The Delhi High Court pulled up the city administration on Friday for its failure to fill the vacant posts of the chairperson and members in the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) since 2023, saying it is a case of a lack of will.

The Delhi Government counsel said there is a “bona fide difficulty” and sought time from the court to inform how much more time would be required to complete the appointment process.

“Can a single officer in your government justify this much delay?” asked a bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia.

“Make an assessment of how much time you are going to take. These are the areas where your attention does not go.... There is no difficulty. There is a difficulty of lack of will,” the bench remarked.

The court listed the matter on February 16 and asked the Government counsel to seek instructions on how much “minimum time” is required to complete the process of selection.

During the hearing, the Government counsel said that although there has been a delay, it is not a case of “no progress”.

The lawyer said that, complying with earlier orders, meetings of the selection committee were held on two occasions and the recommendations of the panel were forwarded to the competent authority whose approval is now awaited.

The court, however, said the authorities have failed to complete the process on time in spite of assurances.

It noted that on November 11, 2025, the Delhi Government counsel said the scrutiny committee had completed its task and scrutinised the applications for filling up the vacancies of chairperson and members of the commission, and the selection committee, which was to be chaired by the chief minister, was likely to meet on November 18.