The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Some relief for senior citizens

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Thursday, Oct 14, 2010
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Some relief for senior citizens

Staff Reporter

Tribunals set up under Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act

Those left to fend for themselves by children can now approach the tribunals
Maximum monthly allowance ordered by tribunal shall not exceed Rs.10,000

Guntur: Senior citizens, including parents who have been left to fend for themselves by their children, can now file an appeal in the maintenance tribunals, which have been constituted at the sub-divisional level by the district administration recently.

The tribunals have been constituted under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007.

Members

The sub-divisional tribunals have been constituted at Guntur, Tenali and Narasaraopet. The Revenue Divisional Officers of the respective sub-divisions will act as chairmen of the tribunals, which have Assistant Directors of Disabled Welfare and a representative of senior citizens as members. The district Collector will act as district appellate tribunal authority and hear appeals against the orders of the tribunals.

Noted senior citizen welfare activists T. Mohan Rao, president of Bapatla Senior Citizens Welfare Association Rudraraju Anji Raju and Chalamayya have been nominated as members of sub-divisional tribunals of Guntur, Tenali and Narasaraopet respectively.

Assistant Director, Disabled Welfare, R. Keshav Reddy, said that the act empowered the tribunals to receive applications from anguished senior citizens for maintenance against one or more children, not minor, seeking maintenance to live a normal life.

The maximum monthly allowance ordered by the tribunal shall not exceed Rs.10,000

After receiving the applications, the tribunal would give notices of applications to children/relatives and hold inquiry for determining the amount of maintenance. The application filed for monthly allowance should be disposed of within 90 days from the date of serving the notice. In exceptional circumstances, the tribunal could extend the proceedings to 30 days.

Interim orders

According to Chapter 1, Clause 2, the tribunal may also, during the pendency of the proceedings regarding monthly allowances, pass interim orders on such children/ relative to make monthly allowances to the grieving parents.

Senior citizens' associations welcomed the constitution of tribunals and said that the Act was a potent one as the order passed in the tribunal would have the same force as those passed under Chapter 1X of the Criminal Procedure Code.

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