A Delhi court has allowed a 60-year-old woman to adopt a 16-year-old girl to whom she had been a guardian for over a decade, setting aside 'procedural deficiencies' and keeping the parent-child bond they had developed in mind.

District judge Girish Kathpalia said the adoption would be in the best interest of the child, who was abandoned by her parents in 2004 and was nurtured by the woman journalist for more than a decade.

The strong bond shared by the girl, now 16, and the woman who was made her guardian by an adoption society in 2005, convinced the court to allow the elderly woman's plea for adoption.

The girl was with the adoption society till 2005.

The court noted that since the woman and the child had cultivated and nurtured a strong mother-daughter bond for about a decade and a half, directing her now to move the adoption application before the society, followed by the home and child study report, would be a 'meaningless exercise'.

'Petitioner (elderly) has been affording good education to the child, who is her only responsibility. The child is happily settled with her,' the court said.

Justice Kathpalia, who interacted with the child, said that he found her happy and confident. 'She also disclosed during the interaction that she has concluded her 10th standard and talked about her career ambitions. She also disclosed that the petitioner, being a single mother, worked from her residence and was available to her 24 hours a day,' the judge said.

The court did not allow 'procedural deficiencies' to come in the way, saying that the case must be viewed more as a child's right issue rather than being about laxities.

The judge said that the 'lack of legislative perception' cannot be allowed to 'abrogate' the right of the child. 'In such cases, paramount consideration being the welfare of the child, adoption must be viewed as more of a child's right, instead of procedural laxities,' the court said.

The child, born in 2002, was relinquished by her parents to an adoption society after two years, following which the journalist, a Christian, had filed an application for guardianship as she could not adopt the minor on account of personal laws applicable to Christians.

She was appointed the guardian in 2005 till the child became a major.

The judge also noted there was a discrepancy in the documentary record as to which of her biological parent -- unwed mother or widower father -- had abandoned her. According to adoption rules, these records are required.

The court said the question is whether the woman's adoption plea be dismissed on account of these factors which have crept in over passage of time for no fault of the child or even the petitioner, ignoring the other vital circumstances of this case and best interest of the minor. 'The vital circumstances for deciding the present case was that till date, neither of the biological parents has come forward to claim her custody and the petitioner was desirous of adopting her but being a Christian by religion, she opted to apply for only guardianship,' it said.