HC to hear plea to regulate alcohol de-addiction centres

The Delhi High Court today agreed to hear a plea seeking montoring and regulation of drug and alcoholic de-addiction and rehabilitation centres.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice R S Endlaw while agreeing to hear the PIL also said it would appoint an amicus curie to asisst it.
"The issues raised in the petition require judicial examination," it said.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by Rajiv Boolchand Jain, who himself claims to be an ex-alcoholic, seeking directions to lay down a "coherent policy and procedures" for the drug and alcoholic de-addiction and rehabilitation centres so that they are easily accessible to patients suffering from chronic addictions to narcotic substances and alcohol.

In his petition, he prayed that central government should immediately stop all grants under "Central Sector Scheme of Assistance for Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drug) Abuse" as the NGOs are "misusing" these grants for personal gains.
"Many of them (NGOs) are controlled by friends and relatives of political stalwarts and bureaucrats in senior positions in the executive hierarchy," he alleged in his petition.

He also sought directions to the Centre to establish a monitoring and regulatory agency for controlling privately-run alcohol and drug de-addiction and rehabilitation centres and act as a supervisory, policy-making and facilitatory body with regard to treatment of alcohol and drug addicts and their rehabilitation.

He said "the Manual of Minimum Standards of Services" should be enforced strictly in a given time-frame to ensure effective implementation of minimum standards of care in alcohol and drug de-addiction centres by states and union territories.
"State governments, despite having monitoring powers as per "Central Sector Scheme of Assistance for Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drug) Abuse", do not undertake any physical inspections of alcohol and drug de-addiction centres and only recommend cases for grants-in-aid sitting on their desks," the petitioner said.