The Punjab and Haryana High Court has, for the time being, stopped fresh admissions of paying senior citizens to Group Home in Sector 31-C, Chandigarh, after taking note of the fact that the facility was originally set up for persons with mental illness. The court also directed the UT Administration to launch a wide publicity campaign to create awareness about the facility among eligible patients and their families.
The directions by the bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry came after the high court was informed that the UT Administration had decided on April 28 to allow paying senior citizens to share the facility because of low occupancy by mentally ill residents
Hearing PILs filed by Jatinder Maan and other petitioners, the bench observed that the possibility of more mentally ill persons applying for admission “cannot be ruled out” if adequate awareness was spread regarding the facility and the substantially reduced security deposit.
Appearing for the petitioners, senior advocate Kshitij Sharma during the course of hearing submitted that the security deposit for admission till November 2025 was “exorbitant” being as high as Rs 20 lakh. He added that the amount was subsequently reduced to “around Rs 3 lakh to Rs 6 lakh”, but sufficient publicity regarding the reduced charges and the facility itself was not carried out.
The petitioners further argued that only a limited application window of four weeks initially and six weeks later was provided for mentally ill patients seeking admission. Taking note of the submissions, the bench observed the possibility of more applicants with mental illness coming forth could not be ruled out if the awareness campaign was spread in a proper manner.
“Therefore, this court, by way of an interim order, directs that the process of spreading awareness through a widely publicised campaign shall continue for the next three months and thereafter a window of at least two months shall be kept open for mentally ill patients to apply. Till then, the admission of paid senior citizens shall remain postponed,” the bench ordered.
At the same time, the court clarified that the interim order would not affect senior citizens who had already been admitted to the facility. “The applications of senior citizens that are pending may be received, but the same shall not be processed for the time being till next date of hearing,” the bench asserted. The bench was also assisted in a related matter by Pushpanjali Trust through petitioner-in-person Aditya Vikram Rametra.
The court also directed the UT Administration to ensure the availability of adequate professional and Class-IV staff at Group Home. During the proceedings, it was also brought to the court’s notice that the executive committee of UTTHAAN Society, managing Group Home, last met in November 2025, and no meetings had been held thereafter.
The high court directed the Administration to ensure that the committee functioned in accordance with the prescribed policy and ordered that a meeting of the committee be convened within a week. The matter has been listed for further hearing on July 23, with directions to the Administration to file a compliance report.
