“It pains us... the Centre and the Delhi government are unable to effect the appointments to either the Maintenance Tribunal or Appellate Tribunal which is causing difficulty for the welfare of senior citizens,” the Delhi High Court bench said. The Delhi High Court on Wednesday pulled up the Centre and the Delhi government over delay in ensuring functioning of the Senior Citizens Maintenance Tribunal. “It pains us… the Centre and the Delhi government are unable to effect the appointments to either the Maintenance Tribunal or Appellate Tribunal which is causing difficulty for the welfare of senior citizens,” a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said. The bench was hearing activist Hemant Goswami’s PIL, seeking reconstitution of the tribunal under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007. It directed the respondents to examine the matter forthwith and file an action taken report. The Public Interest Litigation had sought instructions for the Delhi government to make the tribunal functional and to issue advertisements of schemes for senior citizens. The petition said the tribunal is not senior citizen-friendly and that young people without any real life experience to empathise with senior citizens man them. It said the 2007 law was meant to protect elderly from time-consuming rigours of civil courts by providing simple, speedy and inexpensive procedures. The PIL added the working of the tribunal and its appellate body “has come to a standstill for the want of proper notification of members in the tribunal and the process of notifying the members has gone into a never ending loop”. “This has resulted in untold misery and harassment to senior citizens unleashed by the Delhi government’s inaction,” the PIL said. It said over 500 cases were pending for over a year. The PIL added at least two senior citizens have died while awaiting to be heard at the tribunal during the period.