KOZHIKODE: After Operation Valsalya, yet another ambitious programme of social justice department is out of bounds of nearly a lakh children sheltered in more than 1,600 private orphanages in Kerala.
The SJ department recently launched a sponsoring programme for kids under the integrated child protection scheme (ICPS) which envisages providing Rs 2,000 per month to deserving children deprived of family comforts.
According to rules, the programme is binding for all orphanages as per the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act (Care and Protection of Child) 2000.
But in Kerala alone, the government was reluctant to bring private orphanages under the JJ Act allegedly for fear of backlash from the minority communities running orphanages.
The High Court had in July ordered to bring all the orphanages under the JJ Act. “The HC verdict is a positive one according to the UN Convention on the Rights of Child,” said Shobha Koshy, the chairperson of State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
A top official in SJ department disclosed to DC that it was up to the government to take the stand as JJ Act ensures better rights for children.
Association of Orphanages and Charitable Institutions secretary T. K. Pareekutty Haji said they did not welcome JJ Act but Orphanages and Other Charitable Homes (Supervision and Control) Act of 1960.
“We cannot allow mixing the children found in the streets with those of us as the former will have criminal past,” he said.
The Association’s plea to stay the HC order in Supreme Court was dismissed. Even while resisting JJ Act, these orphanages had been receiving a monthly government grant of Rs 800 per child.
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