Powers of Court (Partial text)

(a) ... visible means of subsistence, or has no parent or guardian, or has a parent or guardian who does not exercise proper guardianship, or (b) is destitute and both his parents or his surviving parent, or in the case of an illegitimate child, his mother, are or is undergoing detention in prison on conviction, to have such care, the Court may pass such order in respect of the offender as it could have passed if he had been brought before it under sub-section (1) of section 29 of the Tamil Nadu Children Act, 1920. (1) The Magistrate who makes an order for the detention of any person in a work-house or a special home under this Act may make an order requiring the parent or other person liable to maintain the person detained to contribute to his maintenance, if able to do so, in the prescribed manner.

(2) The Magistrate before making any order under sub-section (1) shall inquire into the circumstances of the parent or other person liable to maintain the person detained and shall record evidence, if any, in the presence of the parent or such other person, as the case may be.

(3) Any order made under this section may at any time be varied by the Magistrate on an application made to him by the party affected by the order.

(4) Any order made under this section may be enforced in the same manner as an order under section 488 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Central Act V of 1898).