The Act does not mandate any compulsive action by any prospective parent leaving such person with the liberty of accessing the provisions of the Act, if he so desires, the court said.
“Such a person is always free to adopt or choose not to do so and, instead, follow what he comprehends to be the dictates of the personal law applicable to him,” the bench, also comprising justices Ranjan Gogoi and Shiva Kriti Singh, said. The Bench said the Act is an enabling legislation that gives a prospective parent the option of adopting an eligible child by following due procedure.
“At the cost of repetition we would like to say that an optional legislation that does not contain an unavoidable imperative cannot be stultified by principles of personal law which, however, would always continue to govern any person who chooses to so submit himself until such time that the vision of a uniform Civil Code is achieved.
“The same can only happen by the collective decision of the generation(s) to come to sink conflicting faiths and beliefs that are still active as on date,” Justice Gogoi, who wrote the judgement, said.
