The Delhi High Court has asked the city government and civic bodies to see if it is feasible to create a financial assistance scheme for marginalised sections of society, such as transgenders or orphans, in lines with the existing old age pension scheme.
Delhi already has an old age financial assistance scheme and a disability pension scheme named ‘Financial Assistance to Persons with Special Needs’.
Transgenders left out
However, it is an admitted position of the authorities that there is no scheme for support of transgenders or orphans.
A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar asked authorities to examine whether other categories of marginalised citizens needed financial assistance.
The court’s direction came on plea of NGO Social Jurist, a civil rights group, complaining that all categories of persons, who are in need of financial assistance, are not receiving it as they are not covered under the schemes in existence.
Advocate Ashok Agarwal asked for similar schemes for destitute, disabled, blinds, widows, insane, crippled, divorce women, transgender, orphan child till he/she attained the age of 18 and those suffering from serious illness.
Responding to the plea, the government said it has other schemes such as the ‘Delhi Family Benefit Scheme’, ‘Widow’s Daughter Marriage’ scheme and ‘Delhi Pension Scheme to Women in Distress’ (Widow Pension).
Earlier, the High Court had asked the government to widely publicise the old age pension scheme so that more eligible people could avail of it.
