A. Court Directions for Kids Orphaned by Kids
Pandemic has left lot of setbacks for families and one of such grave concern is orphaned children. The Supreme Court has already directed on the concern that all states and Union territories to ensure that the education of children orphaned on account of the COVID-19 pandemic continue without disruption – including in private schools, at least during the ongoing academic year. A bench comprising of justices L Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha Bose suggested that this objective can be achieved by asking schools to waive fees or the state bearing half the expenses to reduce the burden on the affected children. The Court in its last order in August 2021 asked the states to come out with a policy in this regard in four weeks after having discussion with the private schools.
“State governments are directed to act in cohesion with Child Welfare Committees and District Education Officers in having dialogue with private schools in which children in need are studying and see that their education for this year is not disrupted. This can be done by asking the schools to waive fees or the state bearing burden of part of fees,” the bench said.
The commission has provided details that there were 8,161 orphans, 396 children were abandoned and 92,475 lost one of their parents. The affidavit specified that the deaths were caused by a variety of reasons, including COVID-19.
“The data of children uploaded on the Bal Swaraj portal by the states/UTs comprises both categories of children, wherein the child has lost both or either of the parent to Covid-19 disease or otherwise from April 2020 onwards,” the affidavit read.
B. Suo moto Petition
A suo motu petition is being heard by the top court for identification and rehabilitation of children who lost either or both their parents during the pandemic. The court is being assisted by amicus curiae (friend of Court) advocate Gaurav Agrawal in this case.
While going through the report of the amicus curiae for each state, the bench said,
“Our main concern is children in distress are taken care of and their education in private schools continues unhindered at least for this academic year.”
C. PM Cares Fund
In respect of around 2600 children registered under the PM CARES for Children scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May this year, the court allowed the concerned states to request the Centre for releasing funds to meet the payment of fees of children studying in private schools for this academic year.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati appearing for Centre had submitted that PM CARES for Children scheme has provision for providing fees of children orphaned due to COVID-19 at the private schools, besides supporting them with expenses for uniform and books. Bhati said that this benefit is extended only to orphans due to COVID-19 and will not include those abandoned or who still have a surviving parent. Further, the Centre pointed out that the benefit can accrue only when district magistrates approve the beneficiaries.
The latest affidavit of NCPCR showed that the state had registered 308 orphans and 6,270 children who lost either of their parents, besides two children found abandoned from April 2020 till August 23.
The bench had said states have to take pro-active steps in taking care of these children and also ensure that their education is not disrupted due to the loss of either one or both parents.
Maharashtra is the only state in the country which has recorded a five digit figure of children affected during the reporting period with 470 children orphaned and 14,925 children who lost either of their parents, taking the total number of affected children to 15,401 (including six abandoned children).
D. Supreme Court Clarification on PM Cares for Orphaned Children
The Supreme Court already clarified that welfare schemes such as the PM CARES Fund should cover both children, who became orphans during the COVID-19 pandemic and those, who became orphans due to COVID-19. It was also observed that the PM CARES Fund scheme only covers children who became orphans on account of losing parents during the COVID pandemic, which includes a corpus of Rs 10 lakh for orphans by the time they turn 23.
The bench pointed out its Suo Motu case is dealing with children who became orphans after the onset of Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020. Justice Rao stated,
“This needs to be clarified by the Union, because we are looking for information on the scheme and this (Rs) 10 lakh support announced may only be for children whose parents died due to Covid. But I think it should also apply to other children who became orphans in this period.”
The Supreme Court directed State Governments and Union Territories to continue identifying the children who have become orphans or lost a parent after March 2020 either due to Covid-19 or otherwise and provide the data on the NCPCR website without any delay.
“Wide publicity should be given to the provisions of the JJ Act, 2015 and the prevailing schemes of the Union of India and the State Governments/Union Territories which would benefit the affected children. DPCO shall take the assistance of government servants at the Gram Panchayat level to monitor the welfare of the disconsolate children who are devastated by the catastrophe of losing their parent/parents,” it said. The Court during its hearing on 07/06/2021, has dealt with the issues which need its immediate attention relating to the “Identification of the Children”, “Immediate Relief to Affected Children,” and “Education of the Child.”
The Court had directed the counsel appearing on behalf of various states to collect necessary information in regard to the children who became orphans during this pandemic after March 2020 and upload the information at the earliest and file an affidavit showing particular steps taken to protect the children who are orphan.
Photo by Rene Bernal on Unsplash
