Thiruvananthapuram: The Centre would bring in a Christian Adoption Bill to speed up the formalities for adoption among Christian community, Union Minister of State for Law P C Thomas said on June 8.

Catholic Bishop Council India (CBCI) had recommended for such a bill and they have also forwarded the draft of it to the Law Department, Thomas said while speaking at a meet the press programme in Thiruvananthapuram.

Presently Hindu community has separate adoption law and Muslim community has not asked for such a bill, he said.

Adoption among Christian was now being governed by the Guardian Act, which caused delay in formalising the process of adoption, he said. 'The demand for such a bill from the Christian community is judicious', he said.

He said there was no proposal before the government at present to bring out a uniform personal law for all religions in the country.

Thomas said he had convened a meeting of state and high court representatives on July two to discuss the matters concerning the development of infrastructure in courts in the state under a Centre sponsored scheme.

To a question, he said the initiative for setting up a High Court bench at Thiruvananthapuram should come first from High Court and state government. Presently there was no move by the Centre to set up a Supreme Court bench in South India, he said adding it was a long pending demand and 'I think at least there should be a case filing facility in South India'.

He said a CBI inquiry into the Marad carnage, that left nine people dead on May 2, would be proper.

PTI