Supreme Court Asks Maharashtra Govt To Submit A Concrete Plan On Spending Rs 25 Crore For COVID Orphans

Division bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and BV Nagarathna in its order noted that about 19,000 children had lost at least one parent due to the CoVID 19 pandemic and it was estimated that 593 children had lost both their parents due to the pandemic.

The Court has also directed the Department of Child and Welfare to file its reply submitting the plan within 3 weeks.

Appearing for the State of Maharashtra, Advocate Sachin Patil apprised the Top Court about the State's policy dated June 17, 2021 by which the State had decided to place Rs 5 lakh as fixed deposit per child who had lost both the parents which was to be paid when they attain the age of majority.

It was also his contention that the details of 593 children were uploaded on the NCPCR portal under Bal Swaraj Yojana.

The Court also noted that the amount of Rs 20 crore which was deposited pursuant to order dated December 16 as a result of the amount of interest had now become 25 crore.

Background

The directions were issued while the bench was hearing a Miscellaneous Application for directions in relation to a special leave petition against Bombay High Court order which was disposed on December 16, 2016.

The Top Court in its order had recorded State of Maharashtra's submission of depositing an amount of Rs 20 crore in the Registry after recovering it from the respondents (who had admitted students in their college in breach of Supreme Court orders in Hind Charitable Trust Shekhar Hospital Pvt Ltd. v Union of India).

"The same was to be utilized for juvenile justice issues," Court had also noted in its December, 2016 order.

Case Title: Danane Shweta Sunil and Ors v. Union of India

Click Here To Read/ Download Order