New Delhi: Underlining that when a child is adopted, its ties with its biological parents are severed and replaced with ties with the foster parents, the Bombay High Court has said an adopted child will also have the same caste as his adoptive parents.
The two-judge bench of Justices S. M. Modak and M. S. Karnik on 29 January said: “When the process of adoption is completed, the adopted child becomes the legitimate child of the parents and all rights, privileges and responsibilities are bestowed on him which are attached to that relationship.”
The court added that if such a right is not bestowed on the adopted child, his/her future will remain in limbo, and proceeded to set aside the 2018 orders passed by authorities denying the child a caste certificate.
The court then asked the caste scrutiny committee to issue a caste validity certificate to the adopted child within four weeks of the court’s order being communicated to authorities.
The court was acting on a plea filed by an adopted child’s mother, in a case where the child was abandoned at birth, and his biological parents were not known.
The boy’s adoptive parents had first filed an application before the Pune district court under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, for his birth certificate, causing it to pass an order in August 2014 directing the Pune Municipal Corporation to issue a birth certificate showing the adoptive parents or the petitioners as his parents.
Three years later, the child’s mother, who belonged to a special backward category, filed an application before the Deputy Collector, Pune, following which her adopted son was granted a caste certificate, in June 2017.
However, due to an ‘unknown person’ filing a complaint that the adoptive son’s caste certificate was obtained on the basis of false documents, the sub-divisional officer conducted an enquiry and on 21 February 2018 and cancelled the caste certificate.
Although the parents challenged this, their appeal was rejected by the caste scrutiny committee, Pune, on 31 December 2018. Finally, the boy’s adoptive mother moved the Bombay High Court to challenge this 2018 order denying him the caste certificate.
The caste question
When the case reached Bombay HC, it noted that the biological parents of the adopted child were not known, as he was abandoned and later adopted by the petitioner, who was his adoptive mother.
The petitioners had relied on the 2022 decision by the Bombay HC in the case of Dr Sonal Pratapsingh Vahanwala v Deputy District Collector, where the parents of the adopted child were not known.
In that case, the court had specified that if the adoption is valid, the caste of the adopted child would be the same as that of the adoptive parents.
The court was also informed that there was no provision in the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, De-Notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of Caste) Certificate Act, 2000, for grant of caste certificate for adopted children.
Factors the court examined
After analysing the provisions of the 2000 Act, the court noted that under Section 3, the statute says that anyone who intends to seek the benefit of reservation on the basis of caste or tribe, can make an application for issuance of a caste certificate before the competent authority.
There is also a provision of appeal against the decision of the competent authority, the court said, while noting that once the caste certificate is obtained, it has to be verified by the scrutiny committee which is set up under Section 6 of the Act.
In this boy’s case, the court noted that although a caste certificate was granted by the competent authority, it was cancelled.
Under the Maharashtra SC, ST Certificate Rules, 2012, the procedure for obtaining a caste certificate has been outlined, it said. After filing the requisite form and providing documents like the birth certificate, among others, such certificates are usually given by the authorities.
In the present case, the court said it would have to decide whether the 2014 order of adoption passed by the district court and the entry made in the birth register could be considered sufficient to prove the caste of the adopted child was the same as his adoptive parents.
Rights of adopted children
After looking at similar cases like the 2022 ruling, where the competent authority had refused to issue a caste certificate, the court said that under Section 41 of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act, there are provisions for the adoption of orphaned, abandoned, and surrendered children. Upon making an application to the district court for the adoption of such children, the process commences, it noted.
Section 2(aa) of the JJ Act defines adoption to mean “the process through which the adopted child is permanently separated from his biological parents and becomes the legitimate child of his adoptive parents with all the rights, privileges and responsibilities that are attached to the relationship”, the court noted while adding that state governments can also recognise certain institutions in each district which can act as adoption agencies for such children. The power to give up a child for adoption belongs to the court, the bench noted.
Allowing the plea, the court noted that the caste committee had not considered the legal effects of adoption under the JJ Act, and its decision should hence be set aside.
“The adopted child needs to be given a legal status as being the child of adoptive parents. The adoptive parents belong to the special backward category. Adopted child has to be given the same status,” the court said while directing the authorities to issue the caste certificate in four weeks’ time.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)