UT's thinking behind Group Home high deposit: ‘Parent will abandon kids after admission'

Time of India

21-05-2025

Chandigarh: "Parents would abandon their children after getting them admitted to the Group Home for persons with mental health issues" – that was the reasoning behind the Chandigarh administration's decision to fix the "exorbitant" security deposit of Rs 20 lakh, a mandatory condition for getting admission to the Group Home, Sector 31.
As per the file noting and internal discussions within the administration that preceded the decision of fixing the security deposit at Rs 20 lakh, the contention of the social welfare department was, "If somehow any parents/guardians fail to pay the monthly deposit or surrender/leave their ward, the department will not be in a position to sustain the group home efficiently."
The department further contended this would put the whole burden of the home on those who are paying their monthly instalments regularly.
The department, justifying the Rs 20 lakh security deposit, reasoned, "In case the accommodation charges are not charged from the resident of the Group Home, then the fixed charges such as food, electricity, water, and some medicines will remain payable, which amounts to Rs 20,000 per month, and the yearly expenditure calculates at Rs 2.4 lakh.
Accordingly, the expenditure for the period of 10 years amounts to Rs 24 lakh.
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Hence, the security deposit requirement may at the most be reduced to Rs 20 lakh for the efficient functioning of the Group Home."
A parent, requesting anonymity, described the assumption as "perverse" and "lacking any sense of empathy with the parents and guardians" who were struggling for the past seven years for the establishment of the Group Home. Another parent said the UT administration was blindly presuming every applicant to be a "wilful defaulter."
"Further, the UT administration is misleading the public by calling the Rs 20 lakh a security deposit. It is a 'lump sum down-payment for abandonment by the rich,' as wrongly conceived by the UT administration," said a parent.
On Tuesday, terming the security deposit of Rs 20 lakh for admission to the Group Home as "exorbitant", the Punjab and Haryana high court directed the Chandigarh administration to reconsider it.
The bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sumeet Goel instructed the administration to "apply its mind on the aspect of the quantum of security amount of Rs 20 lakh, which deprives admission into the said Mental Illness Home even to deserving mental health patients merely because of a paucity of funds.
"
The court observed, "After hearing learned counsel for the rival parties, especially on the question of the quantum of security deposit of Rs 20 lakh required for admission of mental health patients in Group Utthaan Society and testing the same on the anvil of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, particularly Sections 18, 19, 20, and 21 of the Act, mandating every person suffering from mental illness to be treated with dignity, reasonableness, and without any discrimination, the quantum of security deposit of Rs 20 lakh is exorbitant.
"
The court directed the governing body to hold an emergent meeting to reconsider the aspect of the deposit of Rs 20 lakh as security, which is unaffordable for several genuine mental health patients.
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