The NGO El Shaddai Charitable Trust could finally breathe a sigh of relief after nearly a year’s ordeal of having been subjected to allegations of housing 34 children at one of its children’s shelter, House of Kathleen, located in Assagao, without appropriate orders from the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) North Goa.
In August 2024, the High Court of Bombay at Goa on its own motion had taken cognisance of a letter received from the CWC, North thereby initiating legal proceedings pertaining to the alleged illegalities of housing children without appropriate orders and for uploading various videos of children admitted in their institution through their social media handles such as Facebook and Instagram in contravention to the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, for making donation appeals.
The division bench comprising Justice Bharti Dangre and Justice Nivedita P Mehta highlighted the much debated question of whether it is permissible for any voluntary or non-voluntary organisation to obtain partial registration as a Child Care Institution to house children outside the category of children in need of care and protection as provided under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, in furtherance of their individual objectives and by-laws governing their formation and working.
The Court opined that the State has responsibility enshrined under Article 39 of the Constitution towards securing that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment in addition to its duties under the JJ Act, 2015.
The division bench stated that NGO’s like El Shaddai Charitable Trust which are devoted to the task of catering to the welfare of children, not necessarily only those who are covered by the JJ Act, but also “ Children” as a class who are vulnerable on account of variety of reasons and circumstances in which they find themselves, having necessary infrastructure garnered for taking care of such children, should be permitted to do so and the CWC should not come in their way to offer such care and in doing so the House of Kathleen as an institute has not undertaken any illegality.
Further, the judges also directed the Department of Women and Child Development to take necessary steps and dispose of the pending application of the Trust within four weeks.
The Court also held that the videos uploaded by the Trust on its social media such as Facebook and Instagram are in no way violating the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) guidelines nor the provisions of J J Act, 2015, thereby rejecting the CWC’s objection that the children were being used for soliciting donations.
The Court in wake of the work done by El Shaddai Charitable Trust found it unfortunate that it faced an accusation at the hands of the CWC and disposed of the public interest litigation suo motu as it did not find any reasons in dragging it ahead.
“We neither find that any illegality is being undertaken in the Institute, House of Kathleen run by Respondent No. 6 nor do we find that the children of this institute are being exploited for soliciting donations,” the Court said.
The El Shaddai Charitable Trust was represented by Adv Parag Rao while Adv Neehal Vernekar appeared for the CWC, North in the matter.