Dr. Ravindra Shanbhag calls for justice for the elderly, October 1

Dr. Ravindra Shanbhag calls for justice for the elderly, October 1

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Oct 2,2017: Speaking on ‘Why justice is a mirage for the elderly’ at the seminar organised by Kalpa Trust, at Sharada Vidyalaya, Kodialbail in the city on World Senior citizens day, October 1, Sunday; Dr. Ravindra  Shanbhag, who has been dealing with petitions of senior citizens under the Act for four years now, said that the Act presently does not provide interim relief to senior citizens who are thrown out of their homes by their family members or to those seniors in need of maintenance.

“An ailing senior citizen to wait for 90 days is unreasonable, it is the period taken for the Assistant Commissioner to dispose of the petition,” he said. Presently, it takes more than 1.5 years to dispose of a petition from a senior citizen and implementation is a farce.

The activist said the Act should make it mandatory that disputes related to senior citizens should be disposed of within 90 days.  Dr. Shanbhag said the maintenance amount of Rs. 10,000 per month was far too less. The maintenance amount should be 25% of the income earned by family members of the senior citizen.

He said the Act should make the Department of Senior Citizen Welfare the authority to implement the orders passed by the Assistant Commissioner, who heads the district-level Tribunal to hear petitions by senior citizens.  He deplored the fact that  many people ill-treat their aged parents after transfer of property and 90% of such elderly are women.