State to notify rules for welfare of elderly

Chandigarh : Punjab will soon notify rules for the welfare of its elderly citizens. Available information suggests certain objections raised by the state Legal Remembrancer have been removed, paving the way for the notification of the rules under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007. In fact, a statement to this effect was made by Punjab Additional Advocate-General Madhu Dayal before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The assertion came during the hearing of a petition filed by a non-government organisation, Resurgence India. In its petition filed in the public interest through counsel Anil Pal Singh Shergill, Resurgence had sought directions to the State of Punjab through its Chief Secretary and the Principal Secretary (Department of Social Security, Women & Child Development) to notify the rules under the Act. Shergill had asserted: In the present-day scenario, the plight of many unsupported and deserted parents and senior citizens, who are forced to live as destitutes, is widely known.The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, is aimed at providing relief to such elderly citizens. Shergill had added that the petition seeks the “intervention of the court for the removal of bottlenecks to ensure the effective enforcement of the Act so that the needy and suffering senior citizens are able to reap the benefits intended by the Act for the remaining parts of their lives”. Quoting some of the intended benefits, Shergill had asserted: “The Act provides for payment of monthly maintenance allowance by children/legal heirs to parents/senior citizens, who are unable to support themselves out of their earnings, establishment of old age homes in each district for indigent senior citizens and preferred medical facilities in government and government-aided medical establishments”.  As the petition came up for hearing before Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Dayal stated “certain objections raised by Legal Remembrancer to draft rules under the Act have been removed; and the rules are expected to be notified not later than eight weeks”. Taking note of the assertion, the Bench added: In view of the statement, nothing survives in the writ petition and the same stands disposed of as having become infructuous with liberty to the petitioners to revive the same in case the Rules are not notified shortly… We hope and trust that the state shall adhere to the time frame for notifying the Rules.