Panchkula: In a petition challenging the MC proposal to convert the newly inaugurated Old Age Home into a Rest House, Ms Arunima Chauhan, Civil Judge Panchkula today issued an immediate notice to Panchkula Municipal Corporation and Urban Local Bodies Department. Reply by August 16, 2024.
The PIL filed by advocate Pankaj Chandgothia and his wife Sangeeta referred to various news reports which stated that the Panchkula Municipal Corporation had constructed a 7-storey old age home in Sector 27 to accommodate senior citizens who need care and comfort due to lack of money or being abandoned by their children. The said building has 90 rooms and was constructed at a cost of Rs 11.66 crore on 0.888 acres of land. Chandgothia informed that the building was specially designed for the use of senior citizens as it has rooms for doctors, a general ward and nursing station, dining area, kitchen and waiting lounge. It was proposed that a person would have to pay ₹ 5500 per month which would include ₹ 2500 rent and ₹ 3000 for food and other services.
Chandgothia informed that now the MC is planning to pass an agenda item in its house meeting on August 21, 2024 to convert the old age home into a rest house. Opposing the move, Chandgothia argued that the MC had no authority to pass such an agenda as the construction of the old age home was a state government approved project to fulfil the duties vested in it by the Directive Principles of State Policy and to ensure the right to life and dignity of the destitute senior citizen as protected by the Constitution of India. After the project has been passed for a defined and special purpose and crores of rupees have been spent for that defined purpose and inaugurated as an old age home, it is not in the hands of the local body to convert the use of the site building to the commercial purpose of a rest house, which will obviously give free accommodation to government officials and political personalities and hence become a financial burden on the state exchequer.
Chandgothia has also made the Haryana state branch of the Indian Red Cross Society a party to the petition and suggested that if the MC is unable to run the old age home, it should be handed over to the Red Cross which is already working in the area taking care of destitute elderly and children. The court has issued notice to all the concerned parties and asked them to respond by August 16, 2024 as to why the proposal to convert the old age home should not be stayed.
