SC to hear plea seeking Rohingya refugees’ access to public schools

The Supreme Court will on Monday take up an NGO’s petition seeking a direction to the Centre and the Delhi Government to grant Rohingya refugees in the national capital access to public schools and hospitals.

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Denied due to lack of Aadhaar card

• The NGO sought that Rohingya refugees should be given access to public schools and hospitals as they were denied it due to lack of Aadhaar cards
• The PIL also sought extension of all government benefits such as free health services in government hospitals and subsidised foodgrains as available under Antyodaya Anna Yojana scheme

A Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice N Kotiswar Singh is scheduled to hear the petition filed by the Rohingya Human Rights Initiative on February 10.

On January 31, the top court had asked the petitioner to inform it about the places where these Rohingya refugees are settled in Delhi and the facilities accessible to them. It had asked senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing the NGO, to file an affidavit indicating their places of settlement in Delhi.

The NGO sought that Rohingya refugees should be given access to public schools and hospitals as they were denied it due to lack of Aadhaar cards, Gonsalves had submitted.

The PIL sought a direction to the government authorities to grant admission to all Rohingya children free of cost irrespective of Aadhaar cards and allow them to participate in all examinations, including class 10, 12 and graduation, without government insistence on the ID proof.

The PIL also sought extension of all government benefits such as free health services in government hospitals and subsidised food grains as available under Antyodaya Anna Yojana scheme.

The Bench had said since there were no aggrieved parties before the court but an entity, the NGO must file an affidavit indicating their places of settlement, specifying if they lived in camps or residential colonies.

Gonsalves had said Rohingya refugees resided in Shaheen Bagh, Kalindi Kunj and the Khajuri Khas area of Delhi.