The Madras High Court has ordered maintenance of status-quo in respect of eviction of leprosy patients, abandoned by their families, from the Government Leprosy Rehabilitation and Promotion (GLRP) Unit in Tambaram, where they are undergoing necessary treatment.
Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar granted the injunction valid till October 16, while passing interim orders on the writ petitions from A Chidambaram and 22 others, last week.
According to petitioners’ counsel Vijayalakshmi K Rajaratnam, by a GO dated March 22, 1980, the GLRP unit was built for the purpose of promoting rehabilitation of leprosy affected individuals. About 360 patients were rehabilitated as out patients per month and 30 to 50 patients were treated as inpatients. There were more than 500 patients dependent on this rehabilitation centre and most of them were senior citizens.
While so, during the last week of July this year, the officials of the centre informed that they were going to vacate the premises since the land was required for expansion of a bus depot. The officials also asked them to move out since the centre had received orders to that effect. The petitioners were dependent on the centre for their sustenance and recouping from their disease. While so, if this centre was closed down, then all the petitioners would be subjected to mental torture, besides suffer from improper treatment, Vijayalakshmi contended.
Comments
0 comment