The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday directed the National Database & Registration Authority (Nadra) to devise and implement in coordination with the union councils and social welfare department a uniform and child-sensitive mechanism for the registration of orphaned and abandoned children of unknown parentage residing in registered orphanage institutions in the province.
The direction came on petitions calling for registration of orphaned and abandoned children of unknown parentage in the province and issuing them identity documents, including birth certificates and CNICs. A division bench of the high court headed by Justice Adnan-Ul-Karim Memon observed that such mechanism be made without insisting upon parental particulars upon verification by the head of the institution in accordance with law and policy.
The high court directed that necessary steps shall also be taken to facilitate issuance of birth certificates and CNICs / child registration certificates to such children within a reasonable time in order to ensure that they were not deprived of their fundamental rights to legal identity, education, health care, and social protection.
The petitioners raised questions of public importance regarding the continued failure of Nadra and provincial authorities to register orphaned and abandoned children of unknown parentage in Sindh and issue them identity documents, including birth certificates and CNICs.
They submitted that despite a statutory framework under the Nadra Ordinance, 2000, and the Orphanage Registration Policy, 2016, Nadra continued to insist on parental particulars, resulting in the exclusion of such children from the national database.
The petitioners submitted that there was absence of a coordinated mechanism among Nadra, union councils and child protection authorities, leading to arbitrary procedures and denial of legal identity to orphaned and abandoned children. They said that union councils had also failed to issue birth certificates to children of unknown parentage, preventing their registration with Nadra and rendering them legally invisible, thereby depriving them of access to education, health care and social protection.
Nadra submitted that orphan children were registered under two categories, i.e. with known parentage and with unknown parentage, and those residing under the supervision of registered orphanage institutions may apply for Child Registration Certificate / CNIC upon submission of the requisite undertaking containing particulars of the child, including parentage and date of birth, along with biometric verification by the orphanage administrator, subject to attestation and validation by the relevant zone.
The data registration authority’s counsel submitted that as per the Nadra policy, a birth certificate was mandatory for orphan registration, and completion of codal formalities, including an affidavit and verification letter from the head of the orphanage as well as attestation of the CNIC Form by a gazetted officer, was required for further processing.
A provincial law officer submitted that the social welfare department, being the regulatory authority responsible for registration and monitoring of such institutions under the applicable provincial policy framework, had compiled a comprehensive list of orphan institutions along with their registration status and administrative particulars, which had been provided.
The SHC observed that the controversy in the present petitions pertained to the denial of legal identity to orphaned and abandoned children of unknown parentage on account of procedural impediments in the issuance of birth certificates and CNICs.
The bench observed that in the instant case, the insistence upon parental particulars in respect of children of unknown parentage, particularly where such children were residing in registered orphanage institutions duly regulated by the social welfare department, defeated the very object of the statutory framework and perpetuated legal invisibility and social exclusion.
The high court observed that administrative formalities could not be allowed to override constitutional guarantees, especially where the rights of children were involved. The SHC directed Nadra to devise and implement a uniform and child-sensitive mechanism for the registration of orphaned and abandoned children of unknown parentage residing in registered orphanage institutions in Sindh without insisting upon parental particulars, upon verification by the head of the institution in accordance with the law and policy. The high court directed the authorities to submit a compliance report within eight weeks.
