Guwahti: Tripura is witnessing a major controversy following the appointment of members and chairpersons of the Child Welfare Committee in various districts. EastMojo has learnt.
On March 15, the selection list for appointing members and chairpersons of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of West District, Seapahijala District, Khowai District, Dhalai District, South District and North Tripura District was published.
The recruitment process was completed under the supervision of Justice Satyagopal Chattopadhyay, who recently retired from Tripura High Court. He is the chairperson of this selection committee.
Other members of this committee were State Social Welfare and Social Education Department Director Smita Mall, IAS, Tripura Child Protection Commission Chairperson Jarna Debbarman, Agartala Medical College Principal, Tripura University Professor Dr. Milan Rani Jamatia, Shilpi Society’s NGO President Chandan Debnath and the representative of an NGO, the Vivek Jyoti Samaj Sangh, Aparajita Sinha.
It has been reported that the prerequisites for the appointment of Child Welfare Committee members and chairpersons are to have in-depth experience and legal knowledge related to child protection with a degree in the relevant subject. The applicant also must not be associated with any political party.
On January 4, the State Social Welfare Department issued a notification for the appointment of chairpersons and members of Child Welfare Committees of West District, Seapahijala, Khowai, Dhalai, South and North Districts.
Thirty-six people were called for the appointment of six chairman posts in six districts and 105 people were called for interview after scrutiny for the selection of 19 CWC member posts in six districts. But it has been alleged that the selection committee has also called several people directly involved in politics for interviews, including BJP spokesperson Asmita Banik.
She was selected for the post of Chairperson of the West District Child Welfare Committee in the first interview. Before this, she was not a member of any committee of child welfare. But many deserving candidates who have served more than once in more than one Child Welfare Committee have been left out.
BJP members, NGOs with no records appointed
Following the publication of the final selection list on the Social Welfare Department’s website on March 15, several candidates deprived of interviews complained that the state social welfare department made extensive changes in the final selection list signed by the selection committee members.
After sending the merit list to the office of the Minister of Social Welfare Tinku Roy in the state secretariat, the selection committee held a secret meeting, while keeping the selection committee chairperson in the dark and made extensive changes to the list.
Only a high-level inquiry will reveal who changed the final shortlisted candidate names finalized by the selection committee headed by Justice (retd) Shri Satyagopal Chattopadhyay.
EastMojo also found that Chandan Debnath, the president of the ‘Shilpi Society’, and a member of the selection committee, is a member of the BJP IT cell and Aparajita Sinha, the representative of ‘Vivek Jyoti Samaj Sangh’ is the wife of a top BJP leader who was defeated in the last assembly polls. Moreover, those two NGOs have no familiarity with Tripura’s social and child welfare circles.
Worryingly, Niti Aayog’s ‘NGO Darpan‘ portal, from where all NGOs in the country track their registration or fund their activities, has no mention of these two NGOs in Tripura. The deprived candidates also questioned how two political personalities have been placed in the selection committee for appointing members and chairpersons of CWC.
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The complaint also revealed that the final selection list signed by the recently retired Tripura High Court Justice Satya Gopal Chattopadhyay was tampered with, which showed that Ambasa and Khowai residents were given the membership of Agartala CWC. Although it is not illegal to give a candidate from one district to another district, many more qualified candidates from the West District had previously served in the Child Welfare Committee in the Western District.
But to accommodate the two candidates from Khowai and Ambassa, the names of two qualified and experienced candidates have been omitted from the final shortlist signed by the Chairperson of the Selection Committee. Therefore, the qualified deprived candidates have demanded a high-level inquiry into the recruitment scandal of the selection of the members and chairpersons of the Tripura Child Welfare Committees.
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