Taking a stern view of the delay in releasing non-recurring grants to NGO-run children’s homes in Uttar Pradesh, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has termed the issue a matter of serious concern, and directed the director of the women and child welfare department to file an affidavit explaining the status of such pending grants across the state.
Event Context
The affidavit must disclose how many NGO-run children’s homes in Uttar Pradesh are awaiting non-recurring grants, irrespective of whether they have raised a demand, and furnish details of all such grants released over the past five years, including the dates of payment.
In compliance with the court’s earlier order, C Indumati, director of women welfare, government of UP, appeared before the court.
State counsel informed the court that as regards non-recurring grant of about Rs.1.00 crore which has become due for payment to Drishti Samajik Sanstha (i.e. in December, 2025) on expiry of 5 years from payment of the last such grant, an amount of Rs.54.00 lakh has been released and the remaining would be released by August, 2026. The delay has been caused by some oversight, he said.
The state counsel informed the court that of the nearly ₹1 crore non-recurring grant due to Drishti Samajik Sanstha in December 2025, ₹54 lakh had been released and the balance would be paid by August 2026. The delay, he said, was caused by an oversight.
On the grant due to Gramin Vikas Samiti, Charu Gonda, the state sought two months’ time. The society’s manager, Upendra Srivastava, informed the court that the grant had been due since 2023 and repeated requests had been made through the district probation officer and the district magistrate.
“If it is so then it is a question to be pondered by the State as to why the demand pertaining to the said Samiti has been remained pending for so long,” the court said.
Directing the director to file the affidavit before the next hearing, the court listed the matter for August 10, 2026.
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A division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Jaspreet Singh passed the order on July 15 while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by one Anoop in 2008, which highlighted the poor condition of children’s homes and sought timely financial assistance under government schemes.
