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SC urges govt to expand COVID-19 aid, including PM Cares, to all orphans

The Supreme Court emphasized that regardless of how parents of an orphan passed away, they should be treated equally. The court asked the government to consider extending benefits, including those from the PM Cares fund, initially intended for children orphaned due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to all orphans.

The bench, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and including Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, directed Additional Solicitor General Vikramjeet Banerjee, representing the Centre, to gather information on this matter. Banerjee informed the court that he had recently been assigned this case and would respond within four weeks.

The petitioner, Poulomi Pavini Shukla, argued that children orphaned during the pandemic received benefits under the Right to Education Act, and similar advantages should be extended to all orphaned children upon the court’s recommendation. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, also representing the case, suggested that orphaned children should be entitled to the same 20 percent quota for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in school admissions as other children.

The bench instructed Banerjee to gather information and submit a comprehensive affidavit. Furthermore, it called upon the states to provide their responses concerning section 2(d) of the Right to Education Act.

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