Chapter V PROCEDURE OF COMPETENT AUTHORITIES GENERALLY AND APPEALS AND REVISIONS FROM ORDERS OF SUCH COURTS

(1) The Board or a children court shall hold its sittings at such place, on such day and in such manner, as may be prescribed.

1. (2) The authority empowered to exercise the powers of the Board or, as the case may be, a children's court under sub-section (2) of Section 6 shall, while holding any inquiry regarding a child under this Act, as far as practicable, sit in a building or room different from that in which the ordinary sittings of civil and criminal courts are held, or on different days or at times different from those at which the ordinary sittings of such courts are held.

1. (1) Save as provided in this Act, no person shall be present at any sitting of a competent authority, except—
   • (a) any officer of the competent authority, or
   • (b) the parties to the inquiry before the competent authority, the parent or guardian of the child and other persons directly concerned in the inquiry including police officers and legal practitioners, and
   • (c) such other persons as the competent authority may permit to be present.
2. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), if at any stage during an inquiry a competent authority considers it to be expedient in the interest of the child or on grounds or decency or morality that any person including the police officers, legal practitioners, the parent, guardian or the child himself should withdraw, the competent authority may give such direction, and if any person refuses to comply with such direction, the competent authority may have him removed and may, for this purpose, cause to be used such force as may be necessary.
3. (3) No legal practitioner shall be entitled to appear before the Board in any case or proceedings before it, except with the special permission of the Board.

(1) No report in any newspaper, magazine or news sheet of any inquiry regarding a child under this Act shall disclose the name, address or school or any other particulars calculated to lead to the identification of such child, nor shall any picture of any such child be published: Provided that for reasons to be recorded in writing the authority holding the inquiry may permit such disclosure, if in its opinion such disclosure is in the interest of the child. (2) Any person contravening the provisions of sub-section (1) shall be punishable with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees.

1. (2) Any person contravening the provisions of sub-section (1) shall be punishable with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees.

If at any stage during the course of an inquiry, a competent authority is satisfied that the attendance of the child is not essential for the purpose of the inquiry the competent authority may dispense with his attendance and proceed with the inquiry in the absence of the child.

1. (1) Any competent authority before which a child is brought under any of the provisions of this Act may, whenever it so thinks fit, require any parent or guardian having the actual charge of or control over the child to be present at any proceeding in respect of the child.
2. (2) The attendance of the parent or guardian of the child may be dispensed with by the competent authority under this section in any case where the child was removed from the custody or charge of the parent or guardian as the case may be before the proceeding has been started by an order of the competent authority.

1. (1) When a child who has been brought before a competent authority under this Act is found to be suffering from a disease requiring prolonged medical treatment or physical or mental complaint that will respond to treatment, the competent authority may send the child to any place recognised to be an approved place in accordance with the rules made under this Act for such period as it may thinks necessary for the required treatment.
2. (2) Where a child is found to be suffering from leprosy or is of unsound mind, he shall be dealt with under the provisions of the Lepers Act, 1898 (3 of 1898), or the Indian Lunacy Act, 1912 (4 of 1912), as the case may be.
3. (3) Where a competent authority has taken action under sub- section (1) in the case of a child suffering from an infectious or contagious disease, the competent authority before restoring the said child to his partner in marriage, of their has been such, or to the guardian, as the case may be, shall where it is satisfied that such action will be in the interest of the said child call upon his partner in marriage or the guardian, as the case may be, to satisfy the court by submitting to medical examination that such partner or guardian will not re-infect the child in respect of whom the order has been passed.

1. (1) Whenever any person is brought before a competent authority under any of the provisions of this Act as a child the competent authority shall make due inquiry as to the age of that person and after taking such evidence as may be necessary, record a finding whether the person is a child or not stating his age as nearly as may be. The age so found by the competent authority shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be the true age of such person.
2. (2) No order of a competent authority shall be deemed to have become invalid merely by any subsequent proof that the person in respect of whom the order has been made is not a child.

1. (a) the age of the child;
2. (b) the circumstances in which the child is living;
3. (c) the reports made by the probation officer;
4. (d) the religions persuasion of the child;
5. (e) such other circumstances as may, in the opinion of the competent authority, require to be taken into consideration in the interests of the child; Provided that in the case of a delinquent child, the above circumstances shall be taken into consideration after the children's court has recorded a finding against the child that he has committed the offence: Provided further that if no report of the probation officer is received within ten weeks of his being informed under Section 17, it shall be open to the children's court to proceed without it.

In the case of a neglected or delinquent child whose ordinary place of residence lies outside the jurisdiction of the competent authority before which he is brought, the competent authority may, if satisfied after due inquiry that it is expedient so to do, send the child back to a relative or other person who is fit and willing to receive him at his ordinary place of residence and exercise proper care and control over him, notwithstanding that such place of residence is outside the jurisdiction of the competent authority; and the competent authority exercising jurisdiction over the place to which the child is sent shall in respect of any matter arising subsequently have the same powers in relation to the child as if the original order had been passed by itself.

The report of the probation officer or any circumstances considered by the competent authority under Section 32 shall be treated as confidential;

Provided that the competent authority may, if it so thinks fit, communicate the substance thereof to the child or his parent or guardian and may give such child, parents or guardian an opportunity of producing such evidence as may be relevant to the matter stated in the report.