KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Thursday directed the district and sessions judges to nominate judicial magistrates to visit orphanages in their districts and ensure that all such institutes were registered with the social welfare department.

The single bench headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar also ruled that magistrates would visit on fortnight basis and any adoption or handing over of any orphan/destitute child will be subject to the decision of magistrate.

It ordered the social welfare department as well as the Child Protection Authority (CPA) to direct all their district officers to approach the magistrates concerned and provide them assistance regarding registration of orphanages and ensure free education for such children in private and public sectors, including the Sindh Education Foundation.

The bench said that the magistrates would be competent to pass any appropriate order for implementation of the Child Protection Authority Act 2011, as well as the Sindh Children Act 1955 and the Orphanage Act 1976, which also provide that no name of any child involved in any case as an accused or victim shall be published or aired in newspaper and electronic media; violation thereof constitutes an offence penalty whereof is up to three years.

It directed the health secretary to issue directions to all hospitals that if an orphan was found on a hospital premises or left by parents, the child protection officer as well the social welfare department must be intimated forthwith and the custody should be regulated through the magistrate concerned.

Justice Panhwar said that the CPA was also in the field, but despite effective legislation implementation was lacking and not a single centre was established apart from three Darul Atfaal in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur and one was under construction since 2010 in Korangi, adding that such position was very alarming and even, prima facie, spoke that how the state was handling the orphans and destitute child issues.

The director general of CPA contended that there were child protection units in every district and liaison committees were also working and undertook to submit detailed comments with better progress.

No mechanism of surveillance

The DG CPA admitted that so far there had been no mechanism with regard to surveillance and reunion of orphans nestled in private shelter homes as well as registration process of private NGOs was yet to be completed and comprehensive data with regard to receiving/admission of orphans with private NGOs was yet to be compiled.

The bench expressed dissatisfaction over the report of DG CPA and said that only a registered/enrolled child can hope for rights and privileges which the relevant laws spoke about and directed the authorities concerned to expedite the matter and ensure registering/enrolment of children with private NGOs and orphanages.

In compliance with an earlier order, the additional secretary, Education Endowment Fund, submitted that he had attended board meeting of Punjab Free Education Fund (PFEF) while framing mechanism regarding free education scholarships and placed a copy of the publication of PFEF and other provinces, which provided scholarships to orphan students, students whose parents are working in grade-1 to 4, special students, whose parents have been martyred in terrorism and students of minority.

As all private schools are bound to give admissions to 10 per cent of students free of cost, the bench said that there must be a mechanism for the private schools in similar way as provided under the Free Education Endowment Fund Act so that said mandatory rules be not exploited for want of mechanism and directed the secretaries of school and college education and secretary of law to ensure that rules in this regard were properly framed and implemented.

The bench also directed the chief secretary of Sindh to form a committee comprising DG private schools, secretary of schools, secretary of colleges, secretary of law, additional secretary of endowment scholarship, Altaf Hussain, counsel for the petitioner and Sara Malkani advocate/amicus curiae in this case and the committee would be competent to nominate two persons from private sector and will submit report/ proposals thereby assuring true compliance with the spirit of these rules.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2019