Presently Senior living sector in India is a free-for-all game. There are no checks and balances to regulate the service quality and the rights of elderly residents.

In order to bring some legality and responsibilities in the overall framework of Aged Care, it is imperative that registration of mom and pop shops should be made mandatory across the country.

Unfortunately most states are either not interested or probably not competent to understand the criticality of eldercare due to which the sector is largely unregulated.

The Madras High Court through its ruling dated 30.06.2022 has directed the Tamil Nadu Govt. to ensure that all old age homes and retirement homes in the state are registered with relevant departments.

In their important judgement, Justices R. Mahadevan and J. Sathya Narayana Prasad upheld the constitutional right of the State government to issue executive orders with respect to management of even private old age / retirement homes. It has ordered that the government must ensure registration of every such home and periodical collection of details regarding the inmates, as well as the management. 

The court ruling concluded the case, stating that, in the above background, this Court would deem it fit to issue the following guidelines. Relevant judgement points (iv & v) are shared in verbatim:

1) The State Government shall take steps to inspect all old age homes within the State……

2) After inspection, the State Government may issue directives to be complied with, and deficiencies, if any, to be rectified by the old age homes / retirement homes….

3) The non-compliance of the directives / non-rectification of the deficiencies as pointed out, must entail civil consequences for the retirement homes / old age homes, including cancellation of registration.

4) The State Government must ensure that every old age home / retirement home within the State is registered with it and the Government must maintain records of its inmates as well as the persons involved in the Management.

5) The State Government must ensure that non-registered homes do not continue to function within the State, and must act on any complaint by any person in this regard, after necessary inspection.

6) The State Government must maintain a grievance cell for senior citizens….

7) It is only appropriate that the substance of the impugned executive order may be well made part of a legislation…..

The larger point of debate is, do we need the judiciary to intervene in every aspect of social welfare? Why are State Authorities not interested in the welfare of Senior Citizens?

In my opinion, as a nation we need to go back to the drawing board and review the whole issue on National Policy and Service Delivery Framework for Older People.

Pankaj Mehrotra