MADURAI: Observing that a delay in the adoption process postpones and deprives children of formative experiences and opportunities that can significantly alter the trajectory of their lives, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court said that the district collectors and District Child Protection Units (DCPUs) are obliged to speed up the adoption process.
Justice GR Swaminathan made the observations while hearing a petition filed by a Muslim man challenging the rejection of an adoption deed submitted by him for adopting his late brother’s eight-year-old son by the Madurai Sub Registrar last month.
The judge noted that though the Muslim Personal Law does not recognise adoption, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, and its subsequent amendment in 2015 enable adoption by willing parents irrespective of their religious background (except Hindus, for whom it is subject to the provisions laid down in the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956). However, the petitioner cannot seek the easy option of executing an adoption deed and getting it registered, as the law does not recognise the same.
He also cited Section 54 of the Adoption Regulations, 2022, which prescribes the procedure to be followed for ‘in-country relative adoptions’.
The prospective adoptive parents should register on the designated portal along with required documents, including consent of biological parents or the Child Welfare Committee, consent of the child (child’s wish) if they are above five years of age, affidavit of adoptive parents regarding their financial and social status, among others. After the State Adoption Resource Agency (SARA) gives a pre-approval certificate, the application would be scrutinised by the DCPU and placed before the District Magistrate (district collector), who would then issue an adoption order, the 2022 regulations said.
The judge pointed out that section 63 of the Act stated that a child in respect of whom the District Magistrate issues an adoption order shall become the child of the adoptive parents as if he or she were a biological child. Right to adopt may not, as of date, be recognised as a fundamental right within the scope of Article 21 of the Constitution, but it is certainly a human right. International Conventions have specifically recognised the right to found a family as a human right. This would obviously include the right to adopt.
Taking judicial notice of the prolonged delays in concluding the adoption process, such delays risk denying children the timely access to a nurturing environment essential for their overall well-being, development, and equitable life opportunities. The authorities under the Juvenile Justice Act are obliged to speed up the adoption process, he added.
He advised the petitioner to follow the aforesaid procedure, with directions to the DCPU to verify the petitioner’s application within three weeks and further directions to the collector to dispose of the application within three weeks thereafter.
