New Delhi, Oct. 17 -- The Delhi high court has ruled that prospective adoptive parents cannot claim an enforceable right to adopt a child merely because they accepted a referral and the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) processed their application for a no-objection certificate (NOC), if they are legally ineligible to adopt.

The court dismissed a plea by a Singapore-based man challenging CARA's March 2026 decision to reject his inter-country adoption application, despite his acceptance of the authority's referral of a baby girl.

"In the opinion of this Court, an expectation which is founded upon some actions of the authority done in contravention of the statutory regulations, though later corrected before issuance of NOC and pa...