The Delhi High Court has sought the response of the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) and the Centre in a petition filed by a couple, who are Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card holders and had registered with CARA for adoption of a child in 2018.
A single-judge bench of Justice Rekha Palli was hearing a plea to treat the petitioners at par with Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Resident Indian Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs) in terms of seniority of adoption and direct CARA to refer the child legally free for adoption to them.
According to the plea, the petitioners are OCI card holders and have been residing in India since 2017. They registered with CARA for adoption of a child on March 22, 2018 and their date of seniority was from May 16, 2018, yet they have not received a referral for a child.
The petitioners claimed to know PAPs, who have registered in August 2018, with the same preferences as the petitioners, having received referrals for adoption. In such a situation, the petitioners said either they have been inadvertently skipped, or a differential policy is being applied in respect of OCI PAPs and Resident Indian/ NRI PAPs.
The petition averred that referral for children to be given for adoption have been sent to PAPs registered up to August 29, 2018, yet they have not received a referral and CARA has not been forthcoming with the reason for the same. Publicly available data on CARA’s website clearly shows a sharp drop in children given to inter-country adoption in the past two years, said the petitioner, adding that this suggests a change in policy regarding treatment of PAPs in this category.
The petition relied upon the combined reading of Regulation 14 of the Adoption Regulations, 2017 and the Central Government notification issued under Section 7B (1) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 to aver that Overseas Citizens of India, Non-Resident Indians and resident Indian PAPs are to be treated at par in so far as priority for adoption of Indian children.
The petitioners further mentioned the Central Government notification issued under Section 7B(1) of Citizenship Act, 1955 on January 5, 2007, which stated that OCIs are to be treated at par with NRI PAPs in the matter of inter-country adoption of an Indian child. Regulation 14 of the Adoption Regulations, 2017, states that NRI PAPs are to be treated at par with resident Indian PAPs in terms of priority for adoption of Indian orphan, abandoned or surrendered children, they added.
The petition has been filed and argued by Tara Narula and the next date of hearing is December 2, 2021.