Khushi
The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Kerala High Court’s judgement that restored custody of a surrendered child to his biological parents, a live-in couple.
Following an appeal by a couple to whom the child had been surrendered, Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari stayed the landmark ruling.
In their plea, the couple claims that the biological parents were given custody of the child without properly notifying the adoptive parents.
They claim that, despite having followed all of the procedures for adopting a child, the Child Welfare Committee was attempting to reclaim the right of a biological child in favour of the biological parents.
It was argued that judgement would directly affect the credibility of the entire institutional mechanism of adoption causing the finality of a legal adoption process contrary to the scheme and provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act.
It is also stated that ‘In the case of a child born out of wedlock, only the mother can surrender the child,’ according to the Adoption Regulations, 2017. As a result, it was claimed that the Child Welfare Committee cannot be blamed for following the statute’s procedure.
The Special Leave Petition filed through Advocate Liz Mathew condemned the judgment for the multiple reasons. The petition stated unequivocally that the biological father’s mere presence on the birth certificate does not confer any rights on him that would obviate the legal process of adoption, following which the petitioners were appointed as adoptive parents