KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has expressed resentment over the failure of the provincial social welfare department and the child protection authority for not registering private orphanage centres and directed the district judges to depute magistrates to inspect such facilities in their areas.

The single-judge bench headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar observed that even such institutions have neither provided details, nor have maintained complete record of abandoned children as well as their adoption and marriages.

The bench observed that if the visits of magistrates could help in reunion of abandoned children, the same must be done since it would secure their future.

Accordingly, all district Judges of the province are directed to depute judicial magistrates to make surprise visits of orphanage centres/schools falling within their jurisdictions and record statements of minor inmates and the magistrates would be competent to issue directions to police and social welfare officers concerned to join these proceedings and if these children were in a position to provide their details, then they must be shifted to their respective houses, it added.

One of the amici curiae informed the bench that the departments concerned had not filed compliance reports regarding the last order of the bench about maintaining the record of marriages of girls living in orphanages and allow the girls to choose their future course of life after it was brought in the knowledge of the bench that the marriages of the abandoned girls were being arranged without their consent.

The bench directed the member inspection team (MIT) of the SHC for execution of all orders with the help of both the amici curiae.

A law officer of the Federal Investigation Agency informed the bench that in compliance with its earlier order to investigate affairs of all orphanage centres and examine their record regarding marriages as well as to explore the possibility of human trafficking, the FIA had registered an inquiry at its anti-human trafficking circle and it was assigned to assistant director Muhammad Shoaib.

The bench directed the FIA’s inquiry officer to visit all orphanage centres and collect data of past 10 years regarding marriages of inmates as well as adoption and deaths.

The bench in its order further said that directions were issued to the FIA to de-freeze the amount of Rs30 million seized in connection with an inquiry initiated in 2017 by the FIA commercial bank circle, and release the same to the Sindh Education Endowment Fund and thereafter the additional secretary should ensure that same was also invested in proper manner. The inquiry officer undertook that such amount will be released without any delay.

The additional secretary finance submitted a report contending that though Rs1,000 million was released to the endowment fund, yet same were not invested in any scheme. The additional secretary endowment fund contended that the same was pending for approval of board.

However, the bench observed that since principal amount of endowment cannot be released or used by any authority and same has to be invested in profitable scheme and approval was never requirement of law, therefore, keeping such mandatory investment in name of approval was quite illogical, particularly when such delay was resulting in depriving the deserved from use of profit which must come only after investment. Accordingly, the secretary of college education must ensure that the amount was invested in any government scheme like National Saving Centre and Pakistan Investment Bonds without any further delay.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2020