Bombay High Court raps Maharashtra government: Aid to children’s homes can’t be denied when Ladki Bahin gets funding
The Bombay High Court directed the Maharashtra government to frame a salary‑grant policy for NGO‑run children’s homes in the state within six months.
The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court quoted the late South African president Nelson Mandela, and said: 'We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear.' (Image generated using AI) The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court said on Thursday that the Maharashtra government cannot “without any reasonable justification, deny or delay financial aid to” institutions catering to children in need of care and protection, when it was “extending financial assistance to poor women” through schemes including Ladki Bahin Yojana.
The court directed the state government to frame an appropriate policy within six months to provide salaries to deserving NGOs that run children’s homes under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, also known as the JJ Act.
“Such allocation of resources must satisfy the test of reasonableness under Article 14. The State is under higher constitutional obligation to prioritise the welfare, education, and rehabilitation of children, failing which the very object of the Juvenile Justice law would stand defeated and the larger societal interest would be seriously jeopardised. We hope and trust that the state government would act positively in this regard,” a bench of Justices Kishore C Sant and Sushil M Ghodeswar observed.
The bench passed the judgment on a batch of pleas by employees of child homes run by unaided voluntary organisations or NGOs established under the Societies Registration Act and the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act. The petitioners hold different posts in the homes, including superintendents, counsellors, clerks, caretakers, and cooks.
The bench quoted late South African president Nelson Mandela, “Our children are the rock on which our future will be built, our greatest asset as a nation…Safety and security don’t just happen; they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear.”
Court asks state to give matter importance
Advocate N P Patil-Jamalpurkar, for the petitioners, stated that as the government was not providing salary grants, the NGO employees were constrained to approach the high court, seeking directions to bring their serving conditions at par with state government employees. The pleas also sought directions to sanction and release salary grants in favour of the petitioners from the date of their appointments.
The pleas claimed that Section 34 of the JJ Act requires the state government, in association with NGOs, to establish children’s homes for children in need of care and protection, and activities for their care, treatment, education, training, development and rehabilitation are undertaken at such institutions. It was further argued that the state government is required to provide for the management of such homes, including the standards and the nature of services provided to the children and decide on granting and withdrawing of certification of such facilities to voluntary organisations.
The petitioners told the court that in 2005, the high court, while deciding on pleas by employees of Balkalyan Nagari, a home for destitute children run by Children’s Aid Society, had held that they were entitled to the same pay scales as employees working in the Society’s other institutions. However, subsequently, the pleas claimed, the state only sanctioned salary grants for specific employees and left out other similarly placed children’s homes of other NGOs.
The state government claimed that during surprise checks, many institutions were found to be without students and staff, and non-functional, and mere recognition did not grant permission to receive salary grants.
The judges expressed disappointment over the state government’s handling of the issue despite earlier directions and asked to give the matter the required importance.
Disposing of the pleas, the high court asked the government to “create or select or identify at least one children’s home run by voluntary organisation in each district” having good capacity, infrastructure and competent staff and frame a policy for salary grants.
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