The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the Delhi Government to ensure strict compliance of Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007.
A division bench comprising of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad also directed the Delhi State Legal Services Authorities to ensure that legal aid is extended to people covered under the Act with promptitude, ensuring no inconvenience to them.
The suo moto proceedings were closed by the Court in the nature of public interest litigation which were initiated on its own motion based on a May 23 letter of Advocate Neha Rai, who highlighted the current state of affairs regarding implementing the said Act.
The letter said that the authorities like District Magistrate and Sub-Divisional Magistrate are failing to implement the 2007 Act. It was pointed out that their failure to implement the Act has lead to senior citizens denied relief.
The Court had issued notices to the Delhi government, District Legal Service Authorities, District Magistrate (DM) and all the Sub-Divisional Magistrate to file a status report regarding the individual complaints under the 2007 Act, within time frame after due inspection.
The Court also said that directed the status reports should have data with a complete log from January 2022.
During the hearing today, the Bench noted that the Delhi Government has submitted a detail and exhaustive status reports in the list of cases, applications received under the Act.
The Court also noted that the said status report also revealed that the District Magistrates (DMs) were taking action promptly in the matter.
The DSLSA report filed filed has highlighted that action that was taken in respect with Sapna in a particular case. The report also revealed that regarding the said beneficiary, complete documents were handed over to her counsel and that the matter is still pending.
“Once complete documents have been handed over to the counsel and reasons explained in the status report for delay, no further orders are re required to be passed in the petition. The petition is accordingly disposed of,” the Court ordered. “