Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956
9. Persons capable of giving in adoption
(1) No person except the father or mother or the guardian of a
child shall have the capacity to give the child in adoption.
(2) Subject to the provisions of 3[sub-section(3) and
sub-section(4)], the father, if alive, shall alone have the right to give in
adoption, but such right shall not be exercised save with the consent of the
mother unless the mother has completely and finally renounced the world or has
ceased to be a Hindu or has been declared by a court of competent jurisdiction
to be of unsound mind.
(3) The mother may give the child in adoption if the father is
dead or has completely and finally renounced the world or has ceased to be a
Hindu or has been declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be of
unsound mind.
3[(4) Where both the father and mother are dead or have
completely and finally renounced the world or have abandoned the child or have
been declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be of unsound mind or
where the parentage of the child is not known, the guardian of the child may
give the child in adoption with the previous permission of the court to any
person including the guardian himself.]
(5) Before granting permission to a guardian under sub-section
(4), the court shall be satisfied that the adoption will be for the welfare of
the child, due consideration being for this purpose given to the wishes of the
child having regard to the age and understanding of the child and that the
applicant for permission has not received or agreed to receive and that no
person has made or given or agreed to make or give to the applicant any payment
or reward in consideration of the adoption except such as the court may
sanction.
Explanation: For the purposes of this section-
(i) the expression "father" and "mother" do
not include an adoptive father and an adoptive mother; 1[***]
2[(ia) "guardian" means a person
having the care of the person of a child or of both his person and property and
includes-
(a) a guardian appointed by the will of the
child's father or mother; and
(b) a guardian appointed or declared by a
court; and]
(ii) "court" means the city civil court or a district
court within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the child to be adopted
ordinarily resides.