The selection list for the appointment of 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 on March 15, causing widespread dissatisfaction among those involved in the interview process. All the recruitment process was completed under the supervision of Justice  Satyagopal Chattopadhyay, 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 Jayanti Debbarman, Agartala Medical College Principal, Tripura University Professor Dr. Milan Rani Jamatia, Shilpi Society’s NGO President Chandan Debnath and the representative of another NGO called ‘Vivek Jyoti Samaj Sangh’ is Mrs. Aparajita Sinha.

It has been reported that the pre-requisites for appointment to the posts 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. And the applicant cannot be associated with any political party in any way.

According to this, on January 4, the State Social Welfare Department had issued a notification for the appointment of chairpersons and members of Child Welfare Committees of West District, Seapahijala, Khowai, Dhalai, South and North Districts. 36 persons were called for the appointment of six chairman posts in six districts and 105 persons 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 who are directly involved in politics for interviews, even BJP spokesperson Asmita Banik has been called for interviews. And she got selected for the post of Chairperson of 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.                                                                                                        After the publication of the final selection list on the social welfare department’s website on March 15, several candidates who were deprived of interviews complained that the state social welfare department made extensive changes in the final selection list signed by all the members of the selection committee. After sending the merit list to the office of the Minister of Social Welfare Tinku Roy in the state secretariat, the list of the final selection of the selection committee held a secret meeting was held keeping in dark  the selection committee chairperson for the second time and made extensive changes in the list. Only a high-level inquiry will reveal who was actually changed the final shortlisted candidates names finalized by the selection committee headed by Justice (retd) Shri Satyagopal Chattopadhyay.

Moreover, Chandan Debnath, the president of the ‘Shilpi Society’, a member of the selection committee, is himself a political activist. He is a member of BJP IT cell and Mrs. Aparajita Sinha of another NGO representative of ‘Vivek Jyoti Samaj Sangh’ is wife of a top leader of BJP who was defeated on BJP ticket in the last assembly polls as well. Moreover, those two NGOs have no familiarity in Tripura’s social and child welfare circles. No one knows what these NGO representatives have done in relation to children. Moreover, 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. Therefore, the deprived candidates have also raised questions about how two such political personalities as representatives of NGOs have been placed in the selection committee for appointing members and chairpersons of CWC.

 Reportedly, the complaints of the deprived candidates, on the basis of the marks given by these two NGOs and representatives, in most cases, relatively qualified candidates have been deprived of the recruitment selection. It also alleged that both the NGO representatives gave 8/9 marks out of 10 to some candidates. Again to whom the committee chairperson Justice (retd) Chattopadhyay gave 8 out of 10 marks, but  to exclude that candidate from the list the Two NGOs representatives gave four marks to that candidates to exclude him.  And in most cases due to arbitrary marks given by these two NGOs representatives, many qualified and experienced candidates are left out.                                                                                    

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 the residents of Ambasa and Khowai were given the membership of Agartala CWC. Although it is not illegal to give a candidate from one district to another district,  but there were many more qualified candidates from west district who  had previously served in the Child Welfare Committee in the Western District. But in order 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.