The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the Centre and various state governments for flouting its order to file status report on the issue of missing children and observed the failure showed the authorities were complacent towards the problem.

“Nobody seems to be concerned about the missing children. This is the irony. They can’t speak out so nobody cares about them,” said a bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir during the hearing of a PIL seeking extensive directions to tackle the problem.

The bench expressed its annoyance to additional solicitor general AS Chandiok and said the Centre was the biggest defaulter.

“You have no concern with them (missing children),” the bench observed.

Chandiok contended the states hadn’t responded to the Centre’s directive and, therefore, he was not in a position to inform the court on what measures the government had taken.