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Delhi High Court directs CARA to give NoC to adoptive parents

the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) to give no-objection certificate (NoC) to the parents to take their adopted son to Germany

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It would be"grave injustice" to a child if he is not allowed to unite with his adoptive parents, despite all the formalities being fulfilled, the Delhi High Court has said while directing the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) to give no-objection certificate (NoC) to the parents to take their adopted son to Germany.

Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said that the NoC shall be granted within two weeks while directing the Ministry of External Affairs/Regional Passport Officer to issue a passport within a period of two weeks thereafter.

The court's order comes in wake of a plea filed by 13-year-old Divyansh Arora through his biological father Raj Kumar Arora. According to the plea, Divyansh was adopted by his paternal uncle Dalip Kumar Arora and his wife Vaishali Arora.

The minor was adopted because Dalip and his wife did not have a child despite undergoing several medical treatments. Following this, the couple adopted their younger brother's son following all the formalities of adoption on January 26, 2015. The next day, the adoption deed was made in a Delhi court.

Since both the adopted parents were residing at Hannover, Germany and were Overseas Citizen of India, and it was an inter-country adoption, the petitioner approached CARA, as directed by the German Consulate at Delhi.

The plea contended that CARA refused to assist them and required them to apply through proper channel for adoption on the premise that CARA was the central authority regulating inter-country adoptions, which were guided by the provisions of The Hague Convention, 1993 and accordingly, the parents would require an NoC from CARA, prior to applying for a visa.

The parents of the petitioner allege to have approached CARA various times but said there was no response or assistance from them. The plea also claimed that CARA had forced them to undergo a cumbersome process and the guidelines issued in 2015, as it was notified after the adoption.

CARA, on the other hand, contended that it was mandatory for the adoptive parents to obtain the agreement/approval of the central authority concerned in Germany, as well as the NOC (agreement) of CARA under Article 17 of The Hague Convention on Prevention of Children & Cooperation, in respect of Inter-Country Adoption, 1993.

The court noted that the petitioner had placed on record a judgment of the Higher Regional Civil Court at Germany recognising the adoption of the petitioner and also recognising the judgement of the Court of District & Sessions Judge (West), Tis Hazari Courts.

While allowing the plea, the court said, "The adoption ceremonies were performed in January 26, 2015, and the adoption deed was executed on the next day and for over two-and-a-half years, the minor child has been living with uncertainty and till date, has not been integrated with his adoptive family in the new country of residence."

The court noted that according to the judgement in the guardianship petition, Divyansh was lawfully adopted, and said the judgement has attained finality.

"…and even if the petitioner was to wish, the petitioner cannot reunite with his biological parents. The petitioner's birth certificate and his Aadhaar card have already been modified and the names of his adoptive parents have already been substituted, therein in place of his biological parents. Further, it is not a case of adoption between strangers. The present is a case of adoption between family members," the court said.

The judge also noted that all relations of the minor and his natural family has been severed and "if he is not permitted to unite with his adoptive family, then the child would be in a precarious position, where his relations with the biological parents have severed and the relations with his adoptive family are not permitted to be joined. It would cause grave injustice to a child".

NO RESPONSE

The plea contended that CARA refused to assist the parents. The parents of the petitioner alleged to have approached CARA various times but said there was no response or assistance from them.

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