The parents of the Mentally Disabled are facing several legal issues such as availing Guardianship, Family pension benefit to the mentally Disabled dependent, issues related to properties, and Institutional care for destitute and wandering Persons with Mental Illness etc… Which we are not able to meet out and we felt the services of the judicial support in this regard.
The Free Legal Aid Clinic with the support of Madurai District Legal Services Authority was Inaugurated on 8th April 2010, by Hon’ble Thiru Justice F.M.Ibrahim Kalifulla, Judge, Madras High Court and is functioning in the premises of M.S.Chellamuthu Trust and Research Foundation, Madurai.
A panel of lawyers meets on every Tuesdays and Saturdays between 2pm and 5 pm and provides legal support to the families of the persons with mental disabilities.
In the last two years, 325 cases availed the legal support from the Legal Aid Clinic. The breakup details as follows
| S.No | Area | Beneficiaries |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guardianship | 85 |
| 2 | Disability Certificate | 65 |
| 3 | Free Treatment | 115 |
| 4 | Property issues | 18 |
| 5 | Pension allocation after death of parents (Govt. Staff) | 32 |
| 6 | Divorce | 4 |
| 7 | Counselling | 6 |
In forthcoming years, we are planning to organize programmes that will make the services more visible to people which would result in the better utilization of the special services like Awareness on free Legal Aid Services at gross route level periodically.