Supreme Court on Tuesday has directed all the states to provide Rs 2,000 per month for the education of children of Child Care Institution (CCI) who are now restored to their families amid the ongoing pandemic situation.
The bench observed that Covid-19 has affected normal life since March and has also affected the education of children. Supreme Court bench was informed that there were 2,27,518 children in CCI before this pandemic and now 1,45,788 children have been restored with their families and guardians.
The bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao, also comprising Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Ajay Rastogi also directed the states to provide necessary infrastructure, including books and stationery to those CCI children within 30 days over the recommendation of district child protection units.
The bench also states that the states should also ensure the availability of teachers for these children.
The apex court directed the child protection units to coordinate and oversee the progress made towards the implementation of the order. District child protection units are also directed to inform the district legal service authority about the progress made towards providing the facilities for children of CCI.
The observation made after the top court took suo moto case of the condition of children in protection, juvenile and foster or kinship homes across the country amid the ongoing pandemic.
Advocate Gaurav Agrawal, amicus curiae to the Supreme Court in this specific matter informed the court about the number of children in CCI and those who restored with their families.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the National Commission for Protection of Children Rights (NCPCR) agreed to the amicus curiae suggestions and said, “We are making a mechanism to inspect the child care homes. We want a direction that states be asked to cooperate with the commission in inspecting the child care homes.”
To which the SC bench questioned Mehta, “Why don’t you do all these things such as monitoring the development of children and their welfare in child care homes? You can give the directions to the states on behalf of the commission. What do you want? Whether we should give the directions or you want to issue them.”
The court stated that it is the duty of states, NCPCR, and state commissions to ensure the proper implementation of the law. “We will accept the suggestions of the amicus and will issue directions which have to be followed up scrupulously by the states in child care homes,” observed the court.
