Amendment to JJ Act in offing: Maneka

DMs, collectors to be competent officers for approving adoptions

The WCD Ministry is going to amend the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act to make district magistrates and collectors "competent officers" for approving adoptions, instead of courts, Union minister Maneka Gandhi said on Tuesday, days after cases of alleged illegal adoptions came to light in Jharkhand.

Gandhi was speaking at a national conference of the ministers in-charge of the women and child development departments in all the states and Union territories here.

The Union Women and Child Development (WCD) Minister had yesterday directed the state governments to inspect all the child-care homes run by the Mother Teresa-founded Missionaries of Charity (MoC).

"We are bringing in an amendment to the JJ Act for making District Magistrate/Collector as the competent officer for approving adoptions, instead of courts: Maneka Gandhi," a WCD official said.

The announcement comes days after alleged illegal adoptions were carried out by one such home in Ranchi.

On July 5, the Jharkhand Police had arrested a nun and an employee of the Ranchi-based organisation, run by the MoC, for allegedly "selling" a baby for Rs 1.2 lakh.

However, Gandhi said that the announcement of the amendment has nothing to do with this incident.

Gandhi has also directed the states to ensure that all the child-care institutions (CCIs) are registered and linked to the country's apex adoption body within a month.

According to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, registration of CCIs and their linking with the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) is mandatory, but some orphanages have challenged the validity of the clause, an official of the ministry said.

Around 2,300 CCIs have been linked to CARA since December last year, while about 4,000 more are still pending for linkage.

Gandhi has expressed displeasure over the fact that children in the 2,300 institutions linked to CARA are yet to be brought under an adoption system.

According to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), 2,32,937 children are currently under the care of CCIs -- both registered and unregistered -- in the country.

Gandhi on the sidelines of the conference said about 7,300 such institutions have registered, but about 1,400 have still not registered.

"I request states to immediately register," the minister said.

She also said that states must mobilise state commissions for women and child protection to resolve individual cases of women and children in difficult situations and work closely with police authorities to provide immediate relief.

Gandhi also urged all chief ministers to ensure that protection officers are deployed in all districts, which is mandatory under the Domestic Violence Act, so that they are accessible to any aggrieved woman.

The conference saw participation from 16 ministers, including Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Uttar Pradesh Minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi.

Gandhi agreed with the suggestion of Sisodia that anganwadis should focus on pre-school education and said the WCD ministry has already created the content for this in all national languages.

Many states raised their best practices on women and child safety and Poshan Abhiyan, the programme launched to fight malnutrition.

The conference was attended by ministers from Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Manipur.

The remaining states were represented by secretary level and other high-level officers of state WCD departments.