New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday observed that states and UTs are working at a "slow pace" in identifying children who have lost their parents during the Covid 19 pandemic and are now surviving on streets. Court directed them to take immediate action and upload the required information on National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)'s "Balswaraj" portal.
The bench comprising of Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice BR Gavai was hearing a suo moto matter regarding children in need of care and protection due to loss of parents during Covid 19 and surviving on streets.
NCPCR informed the court today that it has conducted meetings with the concerned authorities of 28 states and UTs regarding identification of orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children as per the directions of the court and has submitted report on that.
"Looking at number of children in street situations, it appears that the process of identification is at a slow pace. It was brought to the notice of this court that "Save the Children" mapped 2 lakh children in 10 districts in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Delhi. There might be lakhs of children in street situations in remaining part of the country who need to rehabilitated," observed the court.
Court said that the states and UTs do not need to wait for directions of NCPCR or the court for collecting background, identifying children for schemes or benefits, to proceed with enquiries to be conducted by CWC etc. It directed the District Magistrates to proceed on the subsequent stages after identification of needy children and upload the information regarding that on the portal.
It also directed the NCPCR to file status report of the information received from states/UTs on Balswaraj portal within a period of four weeks from today.
The states and UTs are also directed to file a status report regarding the steps taken to rescue and rehabilitate the children in need within three weeks.
The court will take up the matter for hearing again on 17th January when issues like adoption of children will also be considered.
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