A petition filed by former Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate Dr. Ashwin Kumar seeking adequate facilities for the elderly people during the pandemic.
A petition filed by former Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate Dr. Ashwin Kumar seeking adequate facilities for the elderly people during the pandemic.
The Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah was hearing the petition.
The petition stated the individual incidents where elderly were mistreated during the pandemic, where in the bench said:
“India is a big country. Every individual case cannot be entertained under Article 32. States should take care of such cases.”
Earlier, the court has recognized that the government is obliged to take care of elderly people who are living alone by providing them essential goods and services. The Court said:
“We, in this application, which is specially confined to Covid 19 crisis, direct that all old age people who are eligible for pension should be regularly paid pension and those identified older people should be provided necessary medicines, masks, sanitizers and other essential goods by respective States.”
Further the court has directed all the States and Union Territories to file “better affidavits” explaining the measures taken by them for safety of elderly people during pandemic in line with its earlier order directing the provision of masks, sanitizers, and PPE kits for senior citizens lodged in institutions.
