SC to hear plea seeking access to schools, hospitals for Rohingya refugees

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea from a nongovernmental organisation NGO seeking a direction to the Centre and the Delhi government to grant Rohingya refugees in the national capital access to public schools and hospitals reported news agency PTIA bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh will hear the pleaOn January 31 the Supreme Court asked the NGO the Rohingya Human Rights Initiative to provide details about where the refugees are settled in Delhi and what facilities are available to them PTI reported It also asked Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves to file an affidavit outlining their places of settlement in the cityGonsalves stated that the NGO was seeking access to public schools and hospitals for the Rohingya refugees as they had been denied these services owing to their lack of Aadhaar cards He said They are refugees having UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees cards and therefore they cant have Aadhaar cards But for want of Aadhaar they are not being granted access to public schools and hospitalsThe bench had pointed out that as no aggrieved parties were present before the court the NGO must file an affidavit indicating the locations of the refugees specifying whether they lived in camps or residential colonies PTI reported Gonsalves had stated that the Rohingya refugees were living in areas such as Shaheen Bagh Kalindi Kunj and Khajuri Khas in Delhi In Shaheen Bagh and Kalindi Kunj they are residing in slums and in Khajuri Khas they are residing in rented accommodation he had informed the courtThe top court had clarified that the purpose of asking these questions was to determine whether the refugees lived in camps as the nature of the relief would differ based on itPIL seeks free education and exam access for Rohingya childrenGonsalves had also submitted that in previous matters concerning the Rohingyas the Centre had maintained that they had the right to access public schools and hospitalsInitially the top court had suggested that as the issue concerned Rohingyas in the national capital and the NGO had challenged a circular issued by the Delhi government it might be more appropriate for the matter to be taken to the high courtThe public interest litigation PIL filed by the NGO is seeking a direction to authorities to allow all Rohingya children to be admitted to schools free of charge regardless of their possession of Aadhaar cards and to permit them to participate in all examinations including class 10 12 and graduation exams without the requirement for governmentissued identity proofsAdditionally the PIL has called for the extension of all government benefits mdash such as free health services in government hospitals subsidised food grains under the Antyodya Anna Yojana scheme and benefits under the Food Security Act mdash to Rohingya families just as they are made available to other citizens regardless of their citizenship statusWith PTI inputs