SC asks chief secretaries for cured patients' data

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday asked chief secretaries of four states and administrators of two Union Territories to provide in four weeks the data of people who have recovered from mental illness and are fit to go home but languishing in hospitals.

The top court said the data should be provided to the Centre to enable it to prepare a roadmap for setting up rehabilitation homes for such people. A bench of justices D Y Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta has asked the chief secretaries of Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, and Telangana to furnish all the relevant details to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for formulation of a proper roadmap.

It also asked administrators of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu to furnish the details in four weeks to the Centre. Petitioner advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal informed the court that there was non-compliance of its last order and some States have not provided the necessary data to the Centre. The Counsel appearing for the Centre also submitted that four States and two Union Territories have not yet submitted the requisite details.

The bench said that if the chief secretaries and administrators fail to comply with the direction to furnish the data in four weeks then it may be constrained to ask them to appear in person before it. The apex court had on February 25 directed chief secretaries of all the States and Union Territories to hold a meeting in four weeks with the Union health secretary to chalk out a roadmap for setting up rehabilitation homes for people who have recovered from mental illness and were fit to go home but are languishing in hospitals.

It had directed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to appoint a nodal officer to conduct the meeting. It had said that the data provided by the States must include a roadmap regarding setting up of rehabilitation homes and based on it the Union ministry will prepare a report to be submitted in the apex court.

Bansal in his plea has said that around 10,000 people, who are fit to be discharged, are forced to live in different mental hospitals and institutes due to social stigma. On October 3, 2018 the apex court had sought reports from all the States and Union Territories on the status of setting up rehabilitation homes for people with mental illness.

Bansal had earlier said that except for few, many States and UTs have not complied with the order of July 10, 2017, in which they were asked to implement the guidelines prepared by the Centre within one-year period. States and UTs which have filed their response include Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya, Punjab, Nagaland, West Bengal, Telangana, Tripura, Delhi, Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.