Delhi HC closes plea for financial assistance for elderly people
The Delhi High Court has closed proceedings on a plea for financial assistance for old people, noting that rules are in place to provide financial assistance to the destitute elderly in the city and there is a system to accept application forms online. A bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma recorded that deficiencies in the application forms are informed to the applicants on the spot and the authorities are taking all initiatives to minimize and resolve the grievances of the persons applying under the scheme for financial assistance.
The court, also comprising Justice Subramonium Prasad, said no further orders were required to be passed and disposed of the petition by Janhit Samajik Nyaya and Kalyan Samiti. The court recorded, in its order dated November 28, that as per the affidavit filed the Delhi government, ”Old Age Assistance Rules, 2009 are in existence in order to provide financial assistance to the destitute elderly people in Delhi” and as per the eligibility criterion, Rs.2,000 per month is provided to the age group of 60-69 years and Rs 2,500 is given for those 70 years of age and above.
Further, an additional amount of Rs 500 per month is provided to the beneficiaries in the age group of 60-69 years belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Minority Communities, subject to the submission and verification of the required documents, it added.
The affidavit of the Delhi government informed that the Department of Social Welfare has adopted a system of accepting application forms online on the e-district web portal in respect of the Old age pension scheme as well as financial assistance scheme for the differently abled persons for the sake of transparency and objectivity from the year 2017 onwards. ”The statement made on affidavit makes it very clear that the Department of Social Welfare, GNCTD has adopted a system of accepting application forms online on the e-District Web Portal in respect of the scheme in question right from the year 2017. It has also been brought to the notice of this Court that the deficiencies in the application forms are informed to the applicants on the spot and all assistance is being provided to the beneficiaries and the government is taking all initiatives and minimizing the grievances and resolving the grievances of the persons applying under the Scheme by regularly monitoring the status of the applications,” the order said. The court also noted that the authorities have already accepted application one lakh seventeen thousand eighteen under the scheme up to November 25, 2018 and that number is increasing daily. Further, more than 18,000 applications have been received under disabilities pension, it added. The Delhi government affidavit also stated that the applications for pension for differently abled are received online throughout the year but in case of old age pension, the scheme is governed by the overall cap limit for the total number beneficiary. The government has to allocate assembly constituency wise the number of fresh applications to be received and once the prescribed limit per assembly constituency for fresh applications for old age financial assistance is exhausted, further applications for old age financial assistance are not accepted due to quota cap, it said.
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