The Maharashtra government faced flak from the Bombay High Court for failing to implement orders passed by the court since 2010 regarding appointment of protection officers for each taluka as provided under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act.
A division bench of Justices S J Vazifdar and B P Colabawala has now given the High Power Committee of the government’s Women and Child Welfare department a week’s time to clear the proposal and forward it to the finance department.
The finance department shall then process and clear the proposal within a week thereafter, the court ordered.
“This is the last time we are requesting the government to implement orders passed by this court since 2010. The next time, we will get serious. By now the whole process should have been completed. This is not correct. The next time we will take some unpleasant steps against the secretaries of the concerned departments,” the bench warned.
As per the proposal, 2164 protection officers would be appointed across talukas in the state. Under the DV Act, a protection officer shall conduct inquiry into allegations of domestic violence and arrange for meetings if needed between the disputing parties.
“By end of next week, we want the committee to clear the proposal and send it to the finance department. It appears that the finance department had taken certain objections earlier. We direct the finance department to process the proposal and consider it to the extent it deems fit,” the court said.
The court will hear the petition on March 7 for compliance.
