Test Case: Madhya Pradesh High Court Calls Upon Responsible Citizens & Professionals To Conduct Social Audits Of Orphanages & Old Age Homes

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has called upon the responsible and respectful citizens of the country to conduct 'Social Audit' of places like orphanage/old age home/mercy home/one stop center etc., so that people living there do not feel left out and management can be inspected for their betterment.

The Court was considering an Appeal against an order whereby the Writ Petition filed by the Petitioner was dismissed for want of prosecution.

The Division Bench of Justice Anand Pathak and Justice Pushpendra Yadav observed, "This is a test case to give concept of 'Social Audit' a chance to gain grounds. Responsible and Resourceful persons of the Society who are occupying important positions in the Department of Administration/Education/Health/Legal and other related fields including Professionals like Chartered Accountants/Doctors/Lawyers etc., to take some responsibility to visit the places (like orphanage/old age home/mercy home/one stop center etc.) where persons with disability/ orphans/ old age people/ victims of the crime and other destitute are institutionalized so that they can come to know about the plight of these inmates and would be able to contribute while raising their standards of living and to create sense of well-being amongst them. Inmates who are living in such institutions would also feel that they are not left out by the society and the society is still eager to take them into its fold. This way, they would come in the main stream also."

The Appellant was represented by Advocate Prashant Singh Kaurav, while the Respondent was represented by Advocate Anil Sharma.

The Counsel for the Appellant had submitted that the dismissal of the Writ Petition, which had remained pending for over a decade and involved the appellant’s claim for promotion, on a technical ground of non-appearance, without adjudication on merits, is ex facie arbitrary and contrary to the settled principles of law.

The Court granted the required relief, holding that the litigant should not be made to suffer on account of bona fide mistake, citing settled law as established in the Supreme Court's rulings in M.K. Prasad Vs. P. Arumugam, 2007, Dindayal Bansal Vs. Gwalior Nagar Tatha Gram Vikas Pradhikaran, 1981 and Rafiq & Another Vs. Munshilal and Another.

The Appellant accepted the suggestion that he invest one hour of community service while visiting Madhav Andha Ashram, Gwalior with some food items/snacks of Rs.10,000/- and spend one hour with the children/ inmates/ families, who are of humble background and are being taken care of by the NGO/Society sponsored by the State Government.

Appreciating the gesture shown by Counsel for Appellant, the Court called it a test case to give concept of 'Social Audit' a chance to gain grounds.

"Another important effect of the Social Audit is that Management of those Institutions sometime misbehave or cause mischief to the inmates especially children and females living there and this way, they would always be cautious that the society is keeping eyes over their working. Therefore, evolution of concept of Social Audit and its effective implementation is the need of hour. Policymakers, especially Department of Women and Child Welfare Development (DWCD), Deptt. of Social Justice and Police Department must come out with some tangible solution in this regard", the Court observed.

The Petition was accordingly disposed of.

Cause Title: Sushil Verma vs. Madhya Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure (2025:MPHC-GWL:23027)

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