KOCHI: Coming down heavily on the state government for not taking enough steps to take care of the mentally ill, the Kerala High Court on Thursday directed it to formulate rules for regulating mental health centres.Justice Thottathil B Radhakrishnan passed the order while considering a report submitted by V Ramkumar Nambiar, the amicus curiae appointed by the High Court to study the state of mental health centres. Ramkumar’s report had pointed out that many mental health centres in the state were functioning without licences from the State Mental Health Authority.The court asked the state to examine whether the current system under the Mental Health Act is functioning properly in the state. “The government should file an affidavit enlisting all persons who are managing and regulating institutions related to mental health in the state and the qualification of those who are holding such offices. The government should submit the list of the heads of departments of mental health hospitals, where there are such departments,” the court said. The affidavit should be filed before January 16. “A large number of NGOs are working in the field of rehabilitation of persons who are either mentally ill or discharged from mental health centres. Prima facie it appears that the present system is not functioning properly,” the court observed.“The government has no control over the mental health sector. The machinery under the statutory authority is merely a ‘superficial watchdog’ which could be even termed as a ‘white elephant’,” the court observed.
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