March 29, 2024 12:00 IST
The NRI couple, who currently reside in Kenya, had adopted their son while in Uganda and had approached the court regarding the formalisation of the adoption in India.
The Karnataka High Court bench observed that the decrees of courts in Uganda confirming the adoption rights of the parents were implementable in India.
The Karnataka High Court has enabled the formalisation of the adoption of a child in Uganda by an NRI couple after they approached the court saying they had not received either a positive or negative response from the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) in India.
On March 26, a single-judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna ruled in favour of the couple, directing CARA to consider issuing a no-objection certificate (NOC).
The NRI couple, who currently reside in Kenya, had adopted their son while in Uganda and had approached the court regarding the formalisation of the adoption in India.
The counsel for the couple had argued that inter-country adoption was recognised by the Hague Convention, of which India is a signatory nation. Thus, the counsel said, any regulations of CARA or the Juvenile Justice Act would not impede the adoption, despite Uganda not being a signatory.
As the situation had not arisen before in law, the counsel requested the court to fill gaps in the law. The State represented by Deputy Solicitor General Shanti Bhushan suggested that a support letter could be issued which would allow entry and exit to India, and if procedures were followed, an NOC would later be issued by the relevant authority.
The bench observed, “The support letter that the Government of India is projecting to grant will place the petitioners or the child neither here nor there, as the support letter has its own limitations…The support letter is for issuance of passport in case of in-country adoption….this is not intercountry adoption or in-country adoption; it is cross-border adoption. A situation neither the Act nor the Regulations envisage. Therefore, I deem it appropriate to direct the Union of India not to restrict its magnanimity to issuance of a support letter; it should stretch for issuance of an approval or a no objection under the regulations, for the reason that, it is a signatory to the Hague Convention…the rights of a child of Indian citizens, who have adopted, cannot be left marooned.”
The bench also observed that the decrees of courts in Uganda confirming the adoption rights of the parents were implementable in India.
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