HC asks AAP govt to treat plea against order on hospitals as representation

The direction by a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan came on the petition by a lawyer who had claimed that the Delhi government order does not consider plight of the mentally ill and homeless who may not have valid identity cards or address proof like Aadhaar to show they are residents of the national capital.With the direction to treat the plea as a representation, the court disposed of the plea.

The Delhi High Court Tuesday asked the AAP government to treat as a representation a plea alleging that its June 7 direction to hospitals, under it as well as private ones, to treat only "bona fide" Delhi residents discriminates against the homeless and mentally ill. The direction by a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan came on the petition by a lawyer who had claimed that the Delhi government order does not consider plight of the mentally ill and homeless who may not have valid identity cards or address proof like Aadhaar to show they are residents of the national capital.

With the direction to treat the plea as a representation, the court disposed of the plea. During the hearing, Delhi government standing counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra and additional standing counsel Gautam Narayan told the court that the plea was infructuous as the June 7 order has been set aside by the Lieutenant Governor.

The petition by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal had sought quashing of the June 7 order, claiming that it deprives the homeless and mentally ill, who do not have address proof, of medical facilities and also violates rights available under the Constitution. Bansal had contended that the Delhi government has classified identically situated citizens into a sub-class only for availing medical facility and such a decision was "unreasonable and arbitrary".

Besides the mentally ill and homeless, denying treatment to non-Delhi residents is also a violation of the right to equality under the Constitution, the petition had claimed..