The Punjab and Haryana high court has put senior citizens’ admission to Group Home, Sector 31 on hold till further order and directed the UT administration to raise awareness about the facility meant for mentally ill persons.
The UT administration on April 28 had decided to open half of 80 seats in Group Home for senior citizens due to the low number of admissions from mentally ill persons in the facility.
Hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) titled Jatinder Maan and others versus UT Chandigarh and others, the division bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and judge Sanjeev Berry, by an interim order, directed the UT administration to widely spread awareness about the facility for three months and give at least a two-month window for mentally ill persons to apply for admission. The admission for senior citizens in Group Home will remain postponed till then.
The bench further observed that the interim order should not affect senior citizens who have already applied, their applications should be duly processed and they should be admitted to the facility. However, the administration cannot take any new applications till the next hearing date. The bench noted that no meeting of the executive committee of the UTTHAAN Group Home society has commenced since November and one shall convene in the next week.
The administration has been ordered to ensure adequate availability of class four staff in Group Home.
