The city government told the Delhi High Court on Thursday that Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal has approved the rules for regulating the standards for de-addiction centres in the Capital which will be notified soon.
Mechanism
The Delhi government also told a Bench of Justice S. Muralidhar and Justice Vinod Goel that once the rules are notified and publicised, a mechanism will be laid down for such centres to apply for permission to function.
After the submission made by government Standing Counsel (Criminal) Rahul Mehra, the High Court directed that the standards be notified and also uploaded online before the next date of hearing on September 19.
The Bench also directed the Law Secretary of Delhi government to file an affidavit, before the next hearing, indicating that the order has been complied with.
On July 12, the court had asked the L-G to finalise and approve the rules within four weeks, saying streamlining the facilities was of paramount importance as the people in need were fairly large in number.
The Delhi government’s status report said the L-G held a meeting with all the stakeholders, including the State Mental Health Authority (SMHA), before finalising and approving the rules.
The court has been seized of the issue after a habeas corpus petition was filed by the father and brother of a man, who was allegedly illegally detained at a de-addiction centre in the city, where he was admitted by his wife and children on the pretext that he was an alcoholic.
It had earlier said de-addiction centres should not be used to detain someone without his consent under the guise of rehabilitation.