New Delhi, Jan 20 : The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking direction to the Union government to establish a dedicated ministry for 'senior citizens'.

A bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and Manoj Misra, told petitioner-advocate G. Priyadarshini, represented by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, to better approach the Central government with a representation at first. Ultimately, the Justice Narasimha-led Bench granted liberty to file a representation and allowed the withdrawal of the petition.

The PIL, filed through advocate Rahul Shyam Bhandari, said that the unprecedented rise in the ageing population of the country, if not categorically handled by an exclusive ministry/specific department, will have detrimental implications in health, economy and in the societal structure at large.

It added that 'senior citizens' being a 'vulnerable class' in itself, come under the constitutional prism of Article 21 owing to the unique and myriad challenges they suffer such as health, societal structure, financial instability and dependence.

'Article 21 of the Constitution is a harbour of human dignity to all but what should be the necessary attributes of life to be dignified at old age will depend upon the legitimate needs of old age. The younger population that is working incessantly today for the progress of the nation, will become part of the elderly population in future. Therefore, the efforts that they put forth must be recognised and respected, once any human enters the dependent phase of life,' stated the petition.

India has 10.4 crore 'senior citizens' constituting 8.6 per cent of the total population, as per the census of Year 2011, and according to recent data, there are 149 million persons aged 60 years and above in 2022 (as on July), comprising around 10.5 per cent of the country's population (which amounts to 14.9 crore). By 2050, the share of older persons will double to 20.8 per cent, with the absolute number at 347 million (34.7 crores), said the petition, adding that it is therefore imperative to have an exclusive ministry/department that can cater to the policies, schemes, financial assistance, health care requirements, pension, etc.

/IANS