To ensure that adoption of children both inside and outside the country is in their best interests, the Supreme Court on Monday instructed the Centre and the States to frame rules, regulations and guidelines under the new adoption law at the earliest.
The bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur said, “The process of adoption has to be transparent and the interests of children have to be protected, whether it is inter-country or intra-country. It should ensure welfare of the child.” The court further asked all the States to come out with rules to implement the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. The order came on a PIl filed by NGO Advait Foundation which sought an independent CBI probe into alleged adoption rackets in the country.
On a request by the PIl petitioner to order a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in adoption process, the bench, also comprising Justices R Banumathi and UU lalit, asked the NGO to come out with “specific allegations in specific cases” for probe. “We will give you liberty to come to court or to the CBI with specific allegations. You cannot seek CBI investigation in all the cases,” the court told the petitioner. In the light of the said order, the PIl was disposed.
The bench had in 2012 issued notice to the Centre on the PIl seeking various reliefs including a direction to the government to ban inter-country adoption in the absence of any law regulating it.