The court upheld the rights of petitioners with valid guardianship certificates to send children abroad and emphasized the importance of following the established adoption procedure.

( 1 ) HEARD both sides.

( 2 ) IN view of the investigations regarding allegations of malpractices relating to trafficking in children raised against two organisations in the Stateof A. P. , the four petitioners before us who are not connected in any way with those organisations are being prevented from proceeding with applications for guardianship Filed by them before the Family court/district court in respect of specific children in their custody. The petitioners also contend that even in respect of those children in their custody where after scrutiny a guardianship certificate has been issued by the Family court/district court concerned the child in question is not being allowed to be sent abroad to the guardian so appointed. This is on account of a letter dated 6/4/1999 issued by the secretary, Department of Women development, Child Welfare and Disabled Welfare, government of Andhra pradesh.

( 3 ) THERE are no allegations of any malpractice against the four petitioners. Under the revised guidelines for adoption of Indian children issued by the Ministry of Welfare, government of India known as the central Adoption Resource Agency, CARA Guidelines, (Chapter 3 para 3. 2.) the state government is required tcies for in-country adoption as per the procedure laid down and is also required to forward applications of Indian Agencies seeking recognition for inter-country adoption to the central Adoption Resource agency after proper verification according to the criteria laid down in these guidelines. Accordingly, on the recommendations of the State government, the four petitioners who are before us have been listed with the Department of Women Development and Child Welfare, A. P. and have been recognised under the CARA Guidelines as follows:the certificate of recognition shows that it is valid for the State of ANDHRA PRADESH

( 4 ) THE petitioners are seeking a limited relief relating to those children whose applications for guardianship are pending either before the Family court or a District court in A. P. and those children in respect of whom, after proper scrutiny, guardianship certificates have already beenissued by the Family court or the District court concerned in Andhra pradesh. Because of the omnibus direction issued by the Women development, Child Welfare and Disabled Welfare Department of the government of A. P. , the applications are not being processed or the children are not being allowed to be sent to their appointed guardians outside India. In the absence of any allegations of any malpractices against the four petitioners we do not see any reason why those children in respect of whom guardianship certificates have already been issued by the appropriate court, cannot be sent to their foreign guardians. There is also no reason why pending applications of these petitioners cannot be processed or proceeded with.

( 5 ) IT is necessary to note that before a guardianship certificate is issued by the Family court or the District court concerned, a letter of relinquishment, VGA clearance, no-objection certificate from CARA and other relevant documents such as the home study of the proposed guardians, no-objection certificate from the agency which has scrutinised the application of the proposed foreign guardians, as also approval from the scrutinising agency in India who scrutinises these applications (in the case of the State of a. P. this scrutinising agency is the Indian council of Child welfare) are required. Thereafter the court decides whether the guardianship should be granted or not. In case there are any objections in respect of any proposed guardianship application, the same can be and are usually raised by the appropriate authority before the Family court/district court concerned.

( 6 ) IN view of this strict and adequate procedure, we direct that those children in the custody of the following four organisations who are the petitioners before us, namely, Indian council of Social Welfare, A. P. , John abraham Memorial