SC raises concern about the delay in the adoption process

On Friday, the Supreme Court expressed major concerns about the “grave” setback in the process of child adoption and questioned the Centre as to why there was no action being initiated to ease the whole process.

A bench presided over by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud noted that adoptions had been seriously delayed. He also questioned why couples were made to undergo three to four years of waiting period for adoption and why CARA (the Central Adoption Resource Authority) was doing nothing about it.

A bench consisting of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra heard the matter of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) brought by “The Temple of Healing,” a charitable trust, requesting for the simplification of the nation’s adoption procedures.

One of the petitioners, the founder of NGO Temple of Healing, Mr. Piyush Saxena highlighted the matter before the Apex Court. He emphasised that, in accordance with Section 56(3) of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act, adoptions made in accordance with the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA), 1956, were exempted from the JJ Act’s provisions. He claimed that because the personnel in charge of adoption for minors had been “doubly cautious,” children were failing to get adopted on the ground level. And that merely 4,000 adoptions take place each year in a nation of orphan children comprising more than 30 million.

The Chief Justice of India (CJI) called additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati’s notice to the appalling state of adoptions in India, saying that while some parents may misuse adoption practises, not all do. Couples choosing to adopt a kid and provide it with a foster home shouldn’t find the procedure to be frustrating.

Identifying children took a lot of time according to Bhati, because the Centre wishes to be completely certain of the child’s safety and future. Following this Court’s directive, they had taken a number of actions, according to the ASG.

The bench announced that it will review the written arguments in additional detail. The bench eventually informed the ASG that she would need to “sit with CARA” to clarify the ramifications of the delay process. The subject is going to be addressed this coming Friday.

Written by: Divyani Newar, College name: NEF Law College, 5^th Semester, 3 Year LL.B., intern under Legal Vidhiya.

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