The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has issued a stern reprimand to the Uttar Pradesh government over repeated delays in disbursing funds to child care institutions. In an order made public on May 8, the court emphasized that the welfare of vulnerable children cannot rely on “ad hoc solutions” and demanded the establishment of a permanent, time-bound mechanism to ensure financial support reaches those in need without interruption.
Presiding over a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Anoop Gupta—a case that has been pending since 2008—Justices Rajan Roy and Jaspreet Singh observed that administrative hurdles are currently defeating the objectives of the state’s welfare initiatives, specifically Mission Vatsalya.
The court’s intervention was prompted by the state’s failure to process ₹1 crore in essential assistance to the Drishti Samajik Sansthan. During the hearing, government officials admitted that the release of funds was stalled pending a meeting of the project approval board. While originally scheduled for April 27, the meeting was deferred to May 12.
The bench took a dim view of this timeline, noting that since the new financial year commenced on April 1, board meetings should have been concluded well in advance to avoid a gap in funding.
“If welfare funds meant for children are not released in time, the very objective of the scheme stands defeated,” the bench remarked.
The human cost of these bureaucratic delays was also highlighted. The court noted reports that the management of child care institutions has been forced to borrow money from private lenders to maintain operations and provide for the children under their care. However, these lenders are reportedly becoming unwilling to extend further credit, creating a precarious situation for the institutions.
The state government defended the delays by pointing to a transition in financial systems. Previously, payments were routed through a centralized cyber treasury system at the national level, which officials claimed presented significant “practical difficulties.”
A new arrangement has since been introduced under the “Sparsh” scheme, which proposes to move payment processing to the district level. Despite this shift intended to streamline the process, the court found that the current year’s approvals remain bottlenecked by the project approval board’s scheduling.
Recognizing that these delays may be systemic rather than isolated, the High Court directed the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development to take proactive measures. The Ministry has been tasked with ensuring that all project approval board meetings are held in advance in the future to prevent any disruption in the flow of child welfare funds.
The court has scheduled the next hearing for May 27 to monitor the progress of the fund release and the implementation of a more reliable disbursal framework.
