LUCKNOW, July 18 -- Taking a stern view of the delay in releasing non-recurring grants to NGO-run children's homes in Uttar Pradesh, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has termed the issue a matter of serious concern, and directed the director of the women and child welfare department to file an affidavit explaining the status of such pending grants across the state.

The affidavit must disclose how many NGO-run children's homes in Uttar Pradesh are awaiting non-recurring grants, irrespective of whether they have raised a demand, and furnish details of all such grants released over the past five years, including the dates of payment.

A division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Jaspreet Singh passed the order on July 15 w...