The Delhi High Court today has issued notice in a plea filed by leprosy patients praying for directions to the Delhi Government and the District Magistrate, South East Delhi for the release of financial assistance due to them as per the Rehabilitation Centre for Leprosy (RCL) scheme.
While issuing notice, Justice Rekha Palli directed the respondents to examine the petitioner’s grievance at the earliest. In the present case, the residents of Satya Jeevan Leprosy Camp was stigmatized, ostracised, and shunted from their village in Karnataka due to leprosy. Thereafter, they came to Delhi and settled down in Sriniwaspuri around 1985. However, only in 1990 it was recognized/registered as a Satya Jeevan Leprosy Camp. Its residents are mostly beggars, domestic workers, and field workers who are below the poverty line, but also have now lost their livelihood and exhausted their savings during the lockdown. They are struggling to survive amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
It has been highlighted in the petition that due to the disability that entails as a results of the disease, the people affected by leprosy suffer additional discrimination in the form of denial of access to health service, education and livelihood options.
A sum of Rs 3,000 per month is being sent into the bank account of the leprosy patients as a part of Rehabilitation Centre for Leprosy (RCL) Scheme, 1981. However, some of the leprosy patients have not received their RCL financial assistance for the past 6 months and some have not received their RCL financial assistance for the past 2 months.
The RCL pension holders mostly have deformity due to leprosy and cannot work to their full potential. They are not provided normal jobs due to their deformity and health conditions. So they have no other choice but to beg.
The present petition was filed by Advocate Imsori Amri and Advocate Osbert Khaling before the High Court of Delhi seeking proper implementation of the Rehabilitation Centre for Leprosy Affected Persons Scheme, 1981, and not to delay and regularly deposit the financial assistance of Rs 3000 per month. The matter has been listed for further hearing on August 9.