SC to hear on Feb 10 plea seeking access to public schools and hospitals to Rohingya refugees

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea of an NGO seeking direction to the Centre and the Delhi government to grant Rohingya refugees based in the national capital access to public schools and hospitals.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh is scheduled to hear the plea.

On January 31, the top court asked the NGO Rohingya Human Rights Initiative to apprise the court about the places where these Rohingya refugees are settled in Delhi and the facilities accessible to them.

It had asked senior advocate Colin Gonsalves to file an affidavit indicating their places of settlement in Delhi.

Gonsalves said the NGO sought access to public schools and hospitals to Rohingya refugees as they were denied the access due to lack of Aadhaar cards.

"They are refugees having UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) cards and therefore they can't have Aadhaar cards. But, for want of Aadhaar they are not being granted access to public schools and hospitals," he had submitted.

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 Khajuri Khas areas of Delhi.

"In Shaheen Bagh and Kalindi Kunj they are residing in slums and in Khajuri Khas they are residing in rented accommodation," he had submitted.

The top court had said it asked the questions to understand if they lived in camps, the nature of relief would be different than the one mentioned in the PIL.

Gonsalves had submitted that in other matters related to Rohingyas, the Centre took a stand that they had the right to go to public schools and hospitals.

Initially, the top court was of the view that since the issue relates to Rohingyas in Delhi and the NGO challenged the circular of the Delhi government, it would be appropriate if they moved the high court.

The PIL has sought a direction to authorities to grant admission to all Rohingya children free of cost irrespective of Aadhar 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, subsidised food grains as available under Antyodya Anna Yojana scheme and benefits under the Food Security Act to Rohingya families as available to other citizens, irrespective of citizenship.