SHILLONG: The Meghalaya Government has deputed three officers and a Government lawyer to represent the State in the hearing in the Madras High Court on the case related to the 20 children from the State who were taken to Tamil Nadu in May last year by a cultural society from the State.
Director of Social Welfare department, HM Shangpliang, on Saturday informed that the four-member team will leave for Chennai on Sunday and will attend the hearing in the Madras High Court on Monday.
The Laisynshar Cultural Society had taken twenty girls from Meghalaya to Tamil Nadu with the consent of their parents but without obtaining necessary permission from the State Child Welfare Committee.
The girls from Meghalaya were taken to Nivedhitha Seva Trust under the aegis of Seva Bharathi in May last. Later they were rescued by the Tamil Nadu Child Welfare Committee and the district administration of Krishnagiri district of the state on October 27.
To a query on the report that some of the children were ill and in need of medical attention, Shangpliang said that the Government would verify the same.
Recently, the Madras High Court, while passing an interim order, directed the Chairman, Child Welfare Committee, Krishnagiri, to keep the children at Narendra Nambikkai Natchathiram, run by an NGO in Hosur, Karnataka, until further orders.
In an interim order by then Chief Justice Rajesh Kumar Agrawal and Justice K Ravichandra Baabu on January 30, the judges had directed the District Sessions Judge, Krishnagiri, to conduct surprise visits and file a report regarding ) the condition of the children.
Pursuant to the above order, the District Sessions Judge filed a report before the First Bench comprising of Acting Chief Justice Sathish K Agnihotri and Justice KK Sasidharan stating that some of the students were found sick and instructions were given to the director of the orphanage and to the Sub Collector to provide necessary medical assistance to them and also take steps to improve the general conditions of the inmates.
The bench also directed the Joint/Deputy Director of Medical Services, Krishnagiri, and the Superintendent, Government Headquarters Hospital, Krishnagiri, to visit the Home to examine the students who are reported to be sick, and give them required treatment and submit a report to the court during the hearing scheduled on February 17.
The parents of the children had approached the court to quash the orders of the chairman of Krishnagiri Child Welfare Committee last year transferring their children from a Trust here to the child welfare committee of Meghalaya Government. They said they sent their children to the Trust as it was very difficult to get good education for their children back home. (With inputs from PTI)