Observing that it is the state’s responsibility to take care of its ageing population, the Bombay High Court said here on Wednesday that the government should consider building large-scale old age homes under the public-private partnership model.
“Due to the dissolution of the joint family system, children are not taking care of their ageing parents. In such conditions, the state should go for public-private partnership to build bigger old age homes, which are better managed. Involve the corporates [in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility]. You have big projects like Slum Redevelopment Authority, redevelopment of structures. Get this too on the list,” a Division Bench of Justices Naresh Patil and A.S. Gadkari said.
The court was hearing a petition seeking proper implementation of legislation meant for taking care of the old persons. When the court was told that there were around 74 lakh elderly persons in the State, and the old age homes catered to only a few thousand persons, it sought information about the steps taken by the government to support them.
The court rapped the Maharashtra government for its apathy to the schemes for the old people. It directed the State to conduct inspections of old age homes and compile a list of such homes run by various organisations. It summoned the Principal Secretary of Social Justice department for the next hearing to be held six weeks later.
The court stayed a scheme of the State government which allowed allotment of five acres land to an NGO for Rupee One lease for 30 years to run an old-age home. The stay would continue until the hearing of the matter. The court also called for data from the government about the number of allotments made under this scheme. Government counsel informed the court that there were 39 NGO-run old age homes in the State. He could not answer any questions about the funding for such facilities, and the medical amenities made available to the old persons.
The court directed the government to take an overall view of such homes, and remove the NGOs wherever required. “Rules don’t permit NGOs to run government homes,” it said.
It sought to know the current process of making applications for entry to such homes.
