Parliament passes Juvenile Justice Bill empowering DMs to authorise adoptions

The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2021 to "strengthen" the child protection setup under the 2015 Act." The act now empowers district magistrates to sign adoption orders, and is an effort to make the process of adoption faster but more compliant with rules, minister for women and child development Smriti Irani said in the parliament on Wednesday.

Government officials said the decision to amend the act was taken after the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) conducted a survey of children's shelter homes across the country, and found over 7,600 of them had deplorable living conditions.

"We wrote to all of them but received replies from only 2,000 homes. Many did not have access to basic amenities such as water or proper food. Often children are forced to spend years in shelter homes because adoption processes take time. The final orders have to come from judges and judges are anyway overburdened. By shifting the accountability to the DM or ADM, we are working on the adoption process to get shorter and by increasing the background checks and punishment, we are sure it will be more law-compliant and child friendly," Priyank Kanoongo, chairperson of NCPCR, told ET.


Irani in the parliament said that the changes will enable officials to finish the process of adoption in a time bound manner. As per the amended provisions of the act, Child Care Institutions will have to be registered after considering the recommendations of the district magistrate who will also independently evaluate the functioning of district child protection units, child welfare committees, juvenile justice Boards, specialised juvenile police units among others.