DESTITUTE CHARITABLE TRUST Vs. CHAIRMAN, CHILD WELFARE COMMITTEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner trust, aggrieved by the order of the respondent dated 19.05.2015, in and by which, it was directed to surrender all the nine abandoned children before them with relevant documents on 04.06.2015, has filed this writ petition.

(2.) The Managing Trustee of the petitioner Trust has sworn to the affidavit in support of the writ petition stating among other things that the Trust came to be established as per the Trust Deed dated 23.06.2006 and at present, ten girl children are being cared and maintained by them. The petitioner Trust submitted a representation dated 24.07.2006 to the District Collector of Kancheepuram District praying for recognition of the Trust as per the provisions of the various Acts governing the State and was directed by the District Social Welfare Officer, Kancheepuram District, to run the institution for a period of one year, vide order dated 01.08.2006 and it was indicated that after the expiry of one year, the request would be considered for registration of the institution as per the provisions of The Orphanages and Other Charitable Homes (Supervision & Control) Act, 1960 [Central Act 10 of 1960] [in short "Orphanages Act, 1960].

(3.) The Deputy Director, Child Welfare In-Charge of Directorate of Social Welfare, Chepauk, Chennai-5, has also granted conditional registration for six months, vide order dated 01.06.2011, commencing from 01.06.2011 to 30.11.2011, subject to the condition that the institution shall be run in accordance with the provisions of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children Act), 2000 as amended in 2006 [in short "JJ Act"] and Rules framed thereunder. The petitioner has also submitted an application under Section 34(3) of the JJ Act for registration and it is still pending with the Government. It is the specific case of the petitioner that it has complied with all the procedural formalities for grant of registration and despite that, harassment is meted out by calling upon the petitioner institution to produce the children admitted in their home and accordingly, one girl baby, namely R.Jessica, aged about 4= years, was directed to be produced and thereafter, the said child was handed over to Holy Apostles Convent, St.Thomas Mount, Chennai, subject to the condition that after completion of child attaining five years, she will be handed over to the petitioner Trust and after the said girl child attained five years, request was made to keep the said child in the care and custody of the petitioner institution. However it was rejected and now the custody of the child was entrusted to SOS, East Tambaram, Chennai-59.