The Legalities of Adoption in India

Corporate Litigation » The Legalities of Adoption in India

The constitution of India has given the right of adoption to every citizen of the country, be it a man or woman. However, there are certain provisions and laws which are laid down in order to guide the process in the country. In India, adoption is made legal between the child who is getting adopted and the party who is adopting the child.

If you are also willing to adopt a child and looking for a professional law firm, LEX Solutions, Chandigarh will surely be your best choice. It is known as one of the best law firms in Chandigarh and other Indian regions.

Also Read: The rights of a women in Hindu Marriage Act

Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Parsis can legally adopt a child in India whereas there are no specific laws laid down for Muslims and Christians, and therefore, they need to approach the court for the same.

Basic Rules Of Adoption In India

There are certain laws and rules laid in India, which can be termed adoption rules in the country. Mentioned below are a few regulations of adoption prevalent in India:

Any Indian citizen, be it a man or a woman, who is married or unmarried, can adopt a child.
Non-Resident Indian (NRI), or a person belonging to any nationality, i.e a foreigner may adopt a child, although the guidelines and documentation process may vary for each group of adoptive parents.
The party who is willing to adopt a child must be of legal age and of sound mind.
Under THE HINDU ADOPTIONS AND MAINTENANCE ACT, 1956, any Hindu male, if he has a living spouse at the time of adoption, can adopt a child only with the consent of his wife (unless she has been declared incompetent to give her consent by the court).
Under THE HINDU ADOPTIONS AND MAINTENANCE ACT, 1956, Any female Hindu who is not married, or married, or whose husband is not alive, or her marriage has been dissolved, or her husband has been declared incompetent by the court, has the capacity to adopt a son or daughter.

Adoption Rules And Regulations For Hindu Couples Or Single Parent

At the time of adoption, when we talk about the adoption of a son by any Hindu male or female, there should not be any living son in the succeeding three generations of the adopting party whether by legitimate blood relationship or by adoption.
When we talk about the adoption of a daughter by any Hindu male or female, the adopting party should not have any daughter or son’s daughter at the time of adoption.

When a man adopts a girl child, there should be a difference of 21 years between the girl child and the adopting parent.

If a female adopts a male child, then the adoptive mother should be at least 21 years older than the child.

Adoption laws for Christians and Muslims in India

In India, the Personal laws of Muslims and Christians do not recognize complete adoption, and so if a person belonging to any of these religions wishes to adopt a child, he or she can take the guardianship of the child under section 8 of the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890.

Section 8 only makes a child a ward and not an adoptive child. This means that, when the child reaches the age of 21, he or she is no longer considered a ward and will be treated as an individual person who has their own identity.

Adoption Regulations Under Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 And Adoption Regulations 2017

The adoption rules applied to males and females under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 can be easily termed under the term prospective adoptive parents, which is mentioned under section 57 of the Juvenile Justice act 2015 and regulation 5 of the Adoption Regulation Act, 2017.

The adopting parents should be mentally sound, have a fit personality, and should be fully prepared to adopt the child. They should also be ready to provide a good upbringing to the child.
If the adoptive parent is married, both spouses’ consent is required for adoption.
Under the provided regulations, a single male is not eligible to adopt a girl child.
In order to adopt a child, the couple adopting a child should have a legal marital relationship at least for a term of 2 years or more.
The minimum age difference between the adoptive child and the parents should not be less than 25 years.
Couples who wish to adopt a child should not have three or more children at the time of adoption, except for special needs as mentioned in regulation 2(12) of AR of 2017.

Adoption Process In India

The adoption rules in India have been laid, and so a process also exists for the same, which is as follows:

Step 1: Registration

Herein, the adoptive parents should register their names with an authorized agency. For this, they can visit nearby agencies and get the registration done. A social worker is present in the agency, who explains the procedure, required documentation, and other things required.

Step 2: Home Study And Counseling

In this step, an official from the agency or organization visits the house of the adoptive parents to do a home study to check if it is the right for a child. Sometimes, they might even ask the adoptive parents to attend counseling sessions to understand their behavior, weaknesses, and strengths better to gauge if they can take care of a child. According to CARA (Central Adoption Resource Authority), the home study should be completed in 3 months from the date of registration of the adoptive parents.

Step 3: Referral of the child

If the adoptive parents pass the above study, they shall be informed about the adoption of the child by the agency, wherein they share all required information about the child, such as their medical reports, interest, and more, and allow them to spend time with the child to establish a bond and understanding between them.

Step 4: Acceptance of the child

Once the adoptive parents have met the child and are sure that they want to proceed with the adoption, there are a few final documents that need to be signed.

Step 5: Filing The Petition

Once the child’s acceptance documents are signed, all required documents are submitted to a lawyer, who then prepares a petition to present it in court. Once everything is done, the adoptive parents are asked to sign the petition in front of a legal officer.

Step 6: Pre-Adoption Foster Care For A Better Understanding

Once the petition is signed by the adoptive parents, they may take the child to a pre-adoption center to understand the child’s habits, behavior, hobbies, and more from the staff.

Step 7: Court Hearing

In this step, the adoptive parents are required to attend the court hearing that happens between them and a judge. Herein, the judge asks questions and inquires about the measures the adoptive parents will be taking to give a good future to the adopted child.

Step 8: Court orders

Once the judge goes through the receipt of investment by the adoptive parents and accepts the same, they pass the adoption of the child to them.

Conclusion

Adoption in India is completely done under the provisions of law. Hindus in India can make a legal adoption under the Hindu Marriage act as per the procedure and adoption regulations laid therein, whereas Christians and Muslims need to approach the court for the same and can go according to Section 8, or the guardians and wards act.

Here is a list of who can be legally adopted in India according to Hindu law:

The child, be it a girl or a boy, if he/she is a Hindu, can be adopted. The child should not have been adopted before. The age of the child being adopted should be below 15 years. The child shouldn’t be married.

If you are a couple or a single parent planning to adopt a child, it is important to know about the legalities of adopting a child in India. Go through the laws and process for adoption, and give a good future to a child. Or you can simply refer to LEX Solutions which is best known for providing top-notch legal solutions under one roof. Make your complicated adoption process simple and hustle-free with LEX Solutions. For more details, feel free to reach their official website.

According to estimates, 65% of people living in urban areas around the world are tenants. This is also true in India due to the sky-high prices of real estate in the major cities and the large population of migrant workers who live there. Nevertheless, living as a renter can be a peaceful arrangement, but occasionally there are situations where one can run into rental problems and other connected issues, such as receiving an unauthorized eviction notice or the erratic behaviour of the landlord.

Are you, however, a renter who is experiencing such problems or simply curious about what to do if you ever find yourself in a similar situation? In that case, allow us to help you through this blog, which will briefly discuss about the several protections against landowner harassment.

What does illegal eviction of tenants mean?

An illegal eviction, also known as an unlawful termination of tenancy, typically happens when a landowner forbids a tenant from entering a rental property or removes the tenant’s belongings from the property through the use of force, intimidation, or other methods (such as cutting off utilities or changing the locks). However, if the landowners evict you without taking the proper legal action, they are breaking the law.

How Do You Respond When Your Landlord Forcibly Evicts You?

Almost every state has rental control legislation pertaining to tenant protection, and each state has established specific circumstances for which the landlord may lawfully evict the renter. Additionally, a tenant has a legal right under the law to appear in court and defend himself against unlawful eviction, and some of those accessible remedies for tenants are discussed below:

Grounds for eviction

Non-payment of rent, breach of the lease, property damage, and illegal activity are the most typical grounds for evicting a renter. The tenant must therefore review the provisions of the State Rent Control Act to ascertain the grounds for eviction specified in the Act. In addition, if the tenant is being evicted for any reason other than those specified in the Act—which is considered wrongful eviction—they must seek the help of an eviction lawyer and the enforcement agencies to halt this.

Suit for injunction

A renter might be unable to leave a property when asked to do so for a number of reasons, such as having a medical emergency or having his elderly parents live with him. When this happens, the tenant has the option to file a case in the appropriate court to obtain an injunction that will prevent them from being evicted for any other grounds (other than those listed in the State’s Rent Act). Along with the assistance of housing rental lawyers, the renter should take this action, if they are violently evicted without providing them with adequate notice.

Rent Controller

In the event that the tenant receives a notice of eviction on pretences, they should go see the rent controller of the relevant jurisdiction and explain why they believe the notice of eviction is invalid. Additionally, following the tenant eviction laws, the court will summon the tenant, who will then be forced to submit his or her case and the arguments supporting the necessary evidence.

Notice of rent payment

If the landowner claims that he has not received the required rent and lists this as the reason for serving the notice of eviction, the tenant may legitimately ask him or her to send the information to his bank account so that he can conduct the transaction and deposit the outstanding rent. Moreover, after agreeing to it, the landowner must give the tenant the information within 10 days of the date they received the notice.

Also Read: Lex Solutions – Your One-Stop Destination For All Things Legal

Steps that you must follow to legally evict a tenant in India

Because eviction laws differ from state to state, the following are typical recommendations for evicting a renter. Nevertheless, you can contact the tenants lawyer of Lex Solutions if you need any assistance.

Serve the Tenant With a Termination Notice

The tenancy must be terminated before a landlord can evict a tenant for cause, and the landowner shall provide the tenant with the required notice before taking legal action to do so. Three different kinds of termination notices are generally available:

Pay Rent or Quit: The tenant is required to pay the rent within a predetermined period (often three to five days) or leave the rented property.
Cure or Quit: A breach of the rental agreement or lease must be remedied by the tenant within a set amount of time.
Unconditional Quit: Without a chance to correct the offense or pay the rent, the tenant must leave the property.

But to evict a tenant without good reason, the landlord must give the renter a 30- or 60-day notice to leave the premises.

File an Eviction Lawsuit

If the renter does not correct the issue or quit the property within the allotted time, the landowner must initiate an unlawful detainer case in small claims court. Following this, landlords have the right to evict tenants by serving a legal notice to tenants to vacate their premises.

Wait for the Tenant’s Answer

Within the time frame given on the summons, the tenant may “answer” the complaint. The renter may, however, use the response to refute the charges or present a defence. And, for instance, a tenant might claim that the eviction was carried out in retaliation or that the unpaid rent was used to pay for repairs the landlord refused to undertake.

Receive a Judgment for Possession

A default judgment is granted to the landowner if the tenant ignores the eviction notice India. Moreover, the landowner is entitled to take ownership of the property if the renter replies with an answer but the court rules in his or her favor.

Remove the Tenant

Despite having the right to reclaim the property, the landlord is unable to evict a renter without the help of a law enforcement official. Nevertheless, the tenant will be informed of the legal eviction and the number of days they have to leave once such an official receives the judgment and the cost. Moreover, the law enforcement authority may physically evict the tenant if they don’t leave the property in the allotted period.

Also Read: Introduction To The Indian Judicial System And Court Hierarchy

Summing Up

Now that you are aware of the characteristics of evictions and how to deal with them in a nation like India, you must use them as needed. Additionally, as a landowner, you must evict a problematic renter per the law. And, to ensure that you are acting legally, consult a local landlord-tenant law attorney in your area. For such assistance, a legal firm in Chandigarh, lexsolution can offer you a one-stop solution.

FAQs

Can a tenant seek an injunction against the landlord?

According to the state rental rules present in India, a tenant does not have the right to issue an injunction against the landlord. Moreover, injunction procedures are always discretionary, and a court of law cannot grant a perpetual injunction in favour of the plaintiff against the right owner if the plaintiff is only a trespasser.

Can police evict a tenant in India?

Even if the renters behave disrespectfully, the police cannot assist in reclaiming the property. However, the only court with the authority to order the eviction of a tenant is the court of the rent controller under whose jurisdiction the property is located.

When a tenant can get the benefit of protection against eviction?

If the tenant can show that the landlord gave his written approval to the subtenant, he is entitled to protection from eviction. Additionally, it disallows any other consent, including implied or oral permission.