Politics
Delhi court says child referral alone cannot force adoption
Hindustan Times··7h ago
Delhi High Court ruled that accepting a CARA child referral does not create a right to adopt if parents are legally ineligible. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma dismissed a Singapore-based man's challenge to CARA's March 2026 rejection. CARA cited Regulation 5(7) of the Adoption Regulations, 2022, on couples with two or more children. The October 15 verdict was released on Friday.
Prism
What It Means For You
- Prospective adoptive parents cannot treat a portal referral plus NOC processing as a guaranteed adoption.
- Couples with two or more children remain limited to special-needs and hard-to-place children under Regulation 5(7).
- CARA must verify eligibility at registration, Home Study Report revalidation and before each referral, the court directed.
What's Happening
- The petitioner accepted referral of a baby girl identified as Baby K after registering under the NRI category.
- CARA later rejected the no-objection certificate application despite document resubmissions.
- The bench said an expectation built on actions later corrected before the NOC is not a legitimate expectation in law.
What CARA Must Fix
- The court told CARA to audit profiles updated during portal migration for mismatches with submitted papers.
- Application status on the portal must show actions taken with brief reasons, the order said.
- Cases must not be marked withdrawn unless parents specifically withdraw them.
all-news
