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A notice was issued by High Court of Himanchal Pradesh on 26th May, Tuesday, to the central and state government in a plea seeking the immediate notification of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007. The petitioners are Advocates Arjun Lall and Shradha Karol.
The division bench of Justices Sureshwar Thakur and Chander Bhusan Barowalia passed the order by seeking responses by both the governments within 2 weeks of time span.
The plea states that although a central law had been passed nationwide for senior citizens, but it was not notified in the state yet. The plea also states that although Himanchal Pradesh had its own legislation i.e. the Himanchal Pradesh Maintenance and Dependents Act,2001-which is having only limited application and also is repugnant / inconsistent to the Central Law.
The Central Act was promulgated in 2007 and 13 years have elapsed despite that it was not notified in Himanchal Pradesh which restricted the Senior Citizens to access the welfare measures provided in the Central Act.
The plea also asserted that the Central Act is more comprehensive and wider in nature than the state’s act as the state act only provided for maintenance to parents, wives, children and imposed a coercive force on individuals to fulfil their moral obligation.
The state act of Himanchal Pradesh did not provide any definition for senior citizens, but in Central Act the definition of the senior citizens is clear i.e. a citizen is considered as senior citizen if above 65 years of age.
The plea also stated to the facts that the motive of the Central Act enacted in 2007 was in order to protect and provide adequate safeguards to the rights of senior citizens, in compliance with Article 38- State to secure a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people and Article 41- Right to work, to education and to public assistance in certain cases of the constitution.
The petitioner argued that the implementation of the central act has assumed much greater significance in view of the spread of the pandemic which resulted in lockdown across length and breadth of the county, due to the advisories and guidelines given by Home Ministry to curb the spread of COVID 19.
The guidelines of the Home Ministry say that the Senior citizens have to remain indoors at all costs, but some are forced to step out as some are living alone or having children living abroad thus have to perform necessary functions on their own such as banking activities , buying groceries , medical facilities etc. this could have an adverse effect on the vulnerability of the citizens as they are prone to the virus more.
Thus, the petition seeks to direct the government to ensure that the Central Act is promulgated across the state and declare the State Act repugnant to the Central Act and provide essential services to senior citizens at their door-step.
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