High Court Directs Delhi Govt To Ensure Strict Compliance Of Senior Citizens Act, Closes Suo Moto Proceedings

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 Authority (DSLSA) to ensure that legal aid is extended to persons covered under the Act with promptitude, in order to avoid any inconvenience to them.

The Court closed the suo moto proceedings 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 said letter pointed out that the statutory authorities namely District Magistrate and Sub-Divisional Magistrate are failing in expeditious implementation of the 2007 Act. It was pointed out that a failure to attend to the appeals of the senior citizens denies them the relief, putting their very existence in jeopardy.

The Court had issued notices to the Delhi government, District Legal Service Authorities, District Magistrate (DM) and and all the Sub-Divisional Magistrates (SDMs) in the national capital.

It also directed all the District Magistrates and Sub Divisional Magistrates to file a status report regarding the individual complaints under the 2007 Act, the time within which action was taken on the same, and the time within which the SDMs prepared reports upon physical inspection and verification of contents of the complaints.

The Court also directed the status reports to indicate the number of complaints received on the website/ helpline number with a complete log from January 1, 2022 onwards.

During the course of hearing today, the Bench noted that detailed and exhaustive status reports were filed by the Delhi Government which included the list of cases, applications received under the Act, their status as well as orders, if any, passed by the Competent Authority.

The Court also noted that the said status report also revealed that the District Magistrates (DMs) were taking action promptly in the matter.

As per the status report filed by DSLSA, it was highlighted that action was taken in respect of the grievance of a legal aid beneficiary namely 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 was 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 required to be passed in the petition. The petition is accordingly disposed of," the Court ordered.

The Court however added thus:

"However, the GNCTD is directed to ensure strict compliance of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 and the DSLSA shall also ensure that legal aid is extended to such persons with quite promptitude avoiding any inconvenience to them."

Case Title: Court on its own motion v. GNCTD

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Del) 751