ition Criminal No 1 45 1 of 1985
Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India  RK Jain and Yogeshwar Prasad RK Khanna RK Bha tt and Dalveer Bhandari for the Petitioner
VC Mahajan Tapas Ray AS Nambiar SB Bhasm e Kapil Sibal RB Misra A Subhashini YP Rao Ms section Janani Ms Urmila Kapur DK Sinha JR Dass PK Man o har Ms section Vasudevan M Veerappa Uma Nath RK Mehta V Krishnamurthy AS Bhasme KR Nambiar BD Sharma Ka i lash Vasudev DN 62 Mukherjee D Goburdhan Ms Kamini Jaiswal TVSN Char i Mahabir Singh Probir Chowdhry MN Shroff A Subba Ra o RS Suri G Probhakar K Ram
Kumar SK Bhattachary a LR Singh AK Sanghi CV Subba Rao R Venkataraman i Salman Khurshid Gopal Singh Mrs Vimla Sinha and Mrs H Wahi for the Respondents
The following Order of the Court was delivered ORDER This writ petition filed in 1985 has been heard on different occasions and several orders and directions ha ve been made from time to time with a view to providing reli ef to delinquent children detained in jails
On August 2 9 1988 this Court made an order wherein so me such directions have been excerpted and it is not necessa ry to make any detailed reference to those directions now
In 1986 the District Judges of the entire country in response to the directions made by this Court supplie d inter alia the particulars of under trial and convict ed children found in regular jails within their respecti ve jurisdiction
On the basis of the said reports it was fou nd that in Assam Bihar Orissa Punjab and West Bengal t he number of such children in regular jails was 64 247 60 63 and 437 respectively
There was no such child in any regul ar jail of Gujarat but in varying numbers not exceeding 30 to 35 they were found in other States
Thereafter some of t he States have filed affidavits indicating release from custo dy or transfer of such children from jails and have stated th at the position at present is very different and the number is either nil or negligible
With the lapse of two years  time since such reporti ng was done there is every likelihood of a change in th at position
Even otherwise in the intervening period t he Juvenile Justice Act 53 of 1986 hereinafter referred to as the Act  has come into force in the whole of the cou n try excepting the State of Jammu  Kashmir with effect fr om 2101987
The Act provides for setting up of juveni le homes special homes and observation homes by the Sta te Governments
Chapter IV provides for dealing with delinque nt juveniles
In this back drop it is necessary to get fre sh detailed reports from the District Judges and update t he figures as to the exact number of delinquent juveniles as defined in section 2a of the Act still detained in regul ar jails
At the same time it is necessary that a report as to whether juvenile 63 Courts as required under section 5 of the Act have been set up and juvenile homes special homes and observation homes ha ve been established as required by sections 9 10 and 11 should be obtained
Every District Judge is therefore directed by this order to report within 4 weeks from today to the Regi s try of this Court through the Registrar of the appropria te High Court as to the exact position obtaining on 282
19 89 in regard to the particulars indicated above
We would li ke to place on record that on the earlier occasion response to directions by this Court had taken more than six month s repetitive adjournments had become necessary and complian ce was effected by indicating coercive steps
We hope and tru st there would be no repetition
Section 62 of the Act empowers the State Governments to make rules to carry out the purposes of the Act
The sche me of the Act is such that it cannot be properly enforc ed unless apropriate rules are framed and brought into forc e Counsel appearing before us for the different States are n ot in a position to make a definite statement that the Stat es they represent have framed rules and brought them in to force
We therefore direct that the District Judges whi le making their reports shall also indicate whether rules ha ve been framed and whether such rules are already in forc e Counsel appearing before us are also directed to inform t he Registry by written memorandum about the framing of rul es and bringing them into force in the respective States
If such rules have not been framed in any State by this ord er we direct such State or States to frame the same on or before 7th of April 1989 and to bring them into for ce without any further delay thereafter
Section 2h defines juvenile  to mean a boy who has not attained the age of sixteen years or a girl who has not attained the age of eighteen years
 Official reports indicate that 35 to 40 per cent of t he total population of the country would be covered by t he definition
As such about 30 crores of young boys and gir ls come within the purview of the Act
There can be no t wo opinions that these children of today are the citizens of tomorrow s India and the country s future would necessari ly depend upon their proper hygiene physical and mental
T he problem is therefore gigantic at the same time there is demand for immediate attention
Several counsel appeari ng before us have told us and we agree with their submissio ns that unless the importance of the matter is properly pe r ceived and the response is adequate both in 64 regard to sufficiency of actions and immediacy of attentio n the purpose of the Act cannot be fulfilled
Children requi re the protective umbrella of society for better growth a nd development as they are not in a position to claim the ir entitlement to attention growing up food education a nd the like
It is the responsibility of the society and is o ne of the paramount obligations of those who are in charge of governance of the country today to attend to the children to make them appropriate citizens of tomorrow
We are of the view that in the setting indicated t he matter perhaps requires overseeing by the Court
For coord i nation between the Union Government and the State Governme nt and between authorities within the State at the initi al stage and it would be in the interest of children that t he matter is obverseen by this Court and when the machinery is properly geared the responsibility of overseeing may be entrusted to the respective High Courts
With a view to working out the modality and to ma ke overseeing convenient it is necessary that a scheme shou ld be evolved
Counsel appearing before us have suggested th at a group of advocates should be entrusted with the work of making a draft scheme and place it before the Court for i ts consideration
We accordingly nominate Messrs VC Mahaja n Yogeshwar Prasad RK Jain Tapas Roy and Mukul Mudgal w ho are advocates appearing for some of the States to draw up a scheme and file it in the Registry of the Court by 7 th April 1989
As we pointed out earlier from the reports it has be en found that the number of children in regular jails were t he highest in West Bengal and Bihar
Mr Tapas Roy representi ng the State of West Bengal relies upon an affidavit fil ed before this Court to contend that the position has substa n tially changed subsequent to the reports and at prese nt perhaps the number of children in regular jails is eith er nil or very small
He has personally undertaken to colle ct the particulars and furnish the same by way of the memora n dum to the Registry on or before 7th of April 1989
So f ar as the State of Bihar is concerned Mr Goburdhan is not in a position to make any statement
From the analysis prepar ed based upon the report of the District Judges it appea rs that there were 27 children in the District Jail of Deogar h about 13 in the jails at Patna and 17 in the jails at Bh a galpur
We are of the view that Mr AS Nambiar Sr
Adv o cate of this Court should be appointed as Commissioner to visit these jails in the three districts of Bihar and co l lect the necessary particulars of juvenile delinquents 65 housed in those jails and report to this Court on or befo re 7th of April 1989
He shall be provided all facilities by the State Government and its officers as may be deem ed reasonable and necessary for implementing this direction
He shall also be entitled to reimbursement of his expenses
It becomes necessary that the Registry should ha ve appropriate funds to meet the expenses from time to tim e We therefore direct that the Union of India shall depos it a sum of Rs50000 while each of the States of Bihar a nd West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh is directed to deposit a s um of Rs 15000
Such deposits shall be made on or before 15 th of April 1989
The expenses have of course to be met by a ll the States but in due course an order directing other Stat es to pay to the fund and final apportionment if necessar y shall be ordered
Notice be issued to the learned Attorney General to appear and assist the Court in this proceeding
The directions indicated above must be worked out with in the time frame as we are fixing the case for further heari ng at 200 PM on 24th of April 1989


Summary:
By an ex parte order made in the writ petition on 9 th September 1988 the Court prohibited respondent No 2 t he management of the Sri Rani Satiji s Mandir from performi ng Chunri ceremony within the temple and directed the enti re collection of money to be separately accounted for a nd deposited into a nationalised bank
In this miscellaneous petition the management soug ht vacation of the ad interim order and lot a direction to t he authorities not to interfere in the matter of collection of money as also articles of gold and silver of deities
Disposing of the miscellaneous petition the Court Ordered 1
The restraint imposed on holding the Chunri ceremo ny within the temple should continue without any variatio n 68G H 21 Pending disposal of the writ petition the temp le complex has to be maintained
Therefore out of the inco me earned maintenance expenses must be met
69A 22 If out of the income of this institution any contr i bution was being made to sustain some social institutions of utility the support should not die out
69B C 23 The respondent No 2 is free to move the Distri ct Magistrate in regard to these two aspects and in case t he latter is satisfied that appropriate funds should be r e leased out of the deposits in the bank for 67 one or both of the above said purposes he would be free to make an appropriate order in respect thereof