Circulate NGO's Report On Shared Parenting In Child Custody Cases Among Judicial Officers: Gujarat High Court To Registrar General

The Gujarat High Court on Thursday directed the Registrar General to circulate a report issued by the Child Rights Foundation in 2017, among the Judicial Officers so that while deciding child custody cases, the concerned judge can come to a right conclusion.

The direction was issued by the division bench of the Acting Chief Justice A. J. Desai and Justice Biren Vaishnav while hearing a PIL which raised certain issues with regard to those children who are facing various types of difficulties when their parents are either residing separately in the same city or in different cities pursuant to differences in their marriage.

However, the court clarified that the guidelines mentioned in the report of the Child Rights Foundation are not at all mandatory in nature and all judges are supposed to decide each case on its own merits in accordance with law.

The petitioner, who is a practicing advocate, submitted before the court that such children, whose parents are living separately, are facing difficulties in their regular studies when they are time and again called in the court proceedings initiated by either of their parents.

It was further submitted by the petitioner that under various acts including the Guardians and Wards Act for the interim custody of the child, the sufferer is the child who has to undergo different types of psychological issues.

The petitioner prayed that the courts having jurisdiction to decide the child custody applications, temporary or permanent, be directed to decide such applications at the earliest, preferably within 90 days from the date of completion of the pleadings.

It was further prayed that both the parents should be granted equal days of custody of the child so that both the parents can raise the child in a particular manner. The petitioner submitted that several High Courts have directed the judges who are dealing with child custody cases to consider the NGO's report while deciding such issues.

On the other hand, Advocate General, Kamal Trivedi contended that the guidelines issued by the NGO are not binding in nature and the concerned court is supposed to decide the case in accordance with law and judgements delivered by the Honourable Apex Court as well as this court and other High Courts of the country.

The court noted that the report deals with several aspects like interim visitation schedule, final visitation guidelines, local guidelines (parties residing within 200 km), non local guidelines (parties not residing within 200 km), joint custody and also the psychological effect on both the parents as well as child

"We have also gone through the order passed by the Karnataka High Court and certain communications issued by the High Courts of Punjab & Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai and Kerala etc. All these High Courts have circulated the above referred guidelines only for consideration to those courts who are dealing with issues with regard to custody of a child," the court said, while issuing the direction to the Registrar General.

Case Title: Rajesh Kumar Mishra v. State of Gujarat

Case Citation: 2023 Livelaw (Guj) 82

Click Here to Read/Download Order

Click Here To Read/Download Guidelines