Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

NGO demands closure of orphanage

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, MARCH 22. A non-government organisation which probed into the conditions in a children's orphanage at Tirumullaivoil, near here, where 140 children were hospitalised with diarrhoea last September, has demanded closure of the institution for alleged violation of the Orphanages Act.

The fact-finding team of the Tamil Nadu Child Protection Network, in its report, said that at the time of investigation, the orphanage, the Eternal Word Children's Home, had not applied for certificate of recognition to run the home. This was a gross violation of the Orphanages and other Charitable Homes (supervision and control) Act, 1960, it said and urged the State Social Welfare Board to prosecute the orphanage for "non-registration" and order its closure.

Though Section 13 of the Act clearly indicated that no person should maintain a home without a certificate of recognition, many homes were being run without it, the team said.

According to the report, an Assistant Director of the Social Welfare department had informed the team that the conditions in the orphanage were not satisfactory and that it had not been given certification of recognition under the Act.

The team urged the Avadi Municipality, under whose jurisdiction the home is located, and the Social Welfare department to ensure that "highest standards of health care and nutrition" were provided to the children.

Further, it urged the police, who had registered a first information report against the orphanage under Section 337 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for allegedly endangering human life, to strengthen the case by adding Section 269 and 270 of the IPC.

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