New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the District Magistrates in all the states and Union Territories to ascertain the educational status of those children who are eligible for benefits under PM Cares Fund and forward the names to the Central government.
"It is the duty of the state governments to identify kids who are eligible under PM Cares and share the names with Centre so that funds and support can be released," observed the court.
The bench comprising of Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice BR Gavai was hearing a suo moto matter regarding Covid-19 in children protection homes. The matter deals with those children who lost their parents during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Centre told the court that it received 4,848 applications and 1,719 have been approved by the DMs under the PM Cares Scheme. On being asked about the benefits that the children are getting, the government said that progress has been made for those aged above 18. ASG Aishwarya Bhati appearing for the Centre sought some time and the court adjourned the matter for two weeks.
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In the same matter, court was informed that the Standard of Procedure was prepared for dealing with the situation after identifying children in three broad situations. Firstly, children living on the streets alone without any support, second, children staying on the roads during the day and are back home by night and thirdly, children living on the streets with their families. SOPs consist of identification of issues and challenges in their life on the street, recognising and categorizing the children in street situations, appropriate measures to be taken and process and procedure to be followed by authorities for children's care.
The court was informed that 'save the children' mapped about two lakh children in the cities of Lucknow, Prayagaraj, Chandauli, Pune, Nasik, Calcutta and Howrah whose right to education, sanitation, water, right to protection and welfare is not addressed. None of the states in which these two lakh children have been identified have provided reports regarding rescue and rehabilitation.
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) submitted that children on the streets might be around 15-20 lakhs going by the identification of 2 lakhs by the 'Save the Children' organisation and almost 70,000 children in Delhi alone.
"Realising the magnitude of the problems that are faced by children in need of care, in street situation, we direct all the DMs/DCs to take steps in accordance with the SOP that has been formulated by the commission," ordered the court. It directed that the secretary of the Women and Child Development Ministry in each state shall be the nodal officer to ensure that all the DMs take prompt action for implementation of SOP of the National Commission.
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"The process has to start with immediate action by the authorities, like identifying children in street situations and thereafter provide information to NCPCR for the later stages as well," ordered the court. It asked all the states and the UTs to attend meetings by NCPCR and offer suggestions apart from raising their concerns.
The matter regarding SOP will be heard on 13th December.
