The Supreme Court Sunday issued a directive to the government to formulate laws to protect rights of the senior citizens.
No government had taken initiative for protecting the rights of the senior citizens in the last 12 years as the Article 11(3) of the Constitution 1990 has provisioned that the state could formulate laws for rights protection of marginalized groups like dalit, women, children and elderly citizen.
There was no provision regarding the rights and facilities to the elderly citizen except for the providing of Rs. 150 to the widow above 60 and Rs. 300 to the citizens who are above 75.A division bench comprising Badri Kumar Basnet and Pawan Kumar Ojha issued the order and advocates Gyawali and Bhimarjun Acharya pleaded on behalf of the petitioners.
The court issued the order while responding to a writ petition filed by advocate Chandra Kanta Gyawali and Punya Devi Shrestha, 80, seeking the court's ruling on the government to formulate appropriate laws and constitute a high level commission to protect social and economic rights of the elderly citizens.
According to the census of 2058 BS, there are about 1.5 million elderly citizens across the country.
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