60-day deadline: Punjab races against time to enforce mental healthcare law after HC rap

Chandigarh: After an eight-year delay, Punjab govt has finally accelerated efforts to implement Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, following stern directions from the Punjab and Haryana high court.

The move comes as a long overdue response to mounting pressure from legal, medical, and civil society quarters over the lack of action on the progressive mental health legislation.

The high court recently expressed concern over the non-implementation of the act, instructing Punjab to notify all rules within 60 days and ensure full compliance with the statute's mandatory provisions.

Punjab set up a state mental health authority (SMHA) in 2018 and notified the State Mental Healthcare (Standards of Care) Rules in 2019, but effective enforcement remains conspicuously absent.

The act mandates that every person has the right to access mental healthcare and treatment from government-run or funded services. These services must be affordable, of good quality, and available without discrimination.

In a renewed push, the state has now begun drafting revised rules that reframe drug addiction as a mental health condition rather than a criminal offence — marking a significant shift from punitive to rehabilitative care. These reforms aim to guarantee patient rights, provide ethical and standardised treatment, and promote recovery with dignity.

Punjab health minister Dr Balbir Singh stated that efforts are being made towards enforcement of the act. "A draft is ready, and we are consulting with stakeholders. The focus is on treating drug addiction as a health issue, not a criminal one," he said.

Health experts, including members of the Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS), have long criticised the current de-addiction model in the state as outdated and counterproductive.

In recent submissions, IPS members underscored the urgent need for evidence-based treatments, such as the routine use of buprenorphine, and insisted that addiction services be governed strictly under the Mental Healthcare Act, not the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

The society has called for the empowerment of mental health review boards to oversee psychiatric care and ensure due process in any disciplinary matters concerning psychiatrists.

These boards, they argue, are essential to upholding the rights-based framework of the act. Echoing these concerns, the Association of Psychiatrists has urged the govt to align all de-addiction protocols with the act, arguing that comprehensive and humane care is impossible without legislative compliance.

Court Seeks Report

In the last court hearing, petitioner Aditya Vikram Rametra submitted a detailed set of points aimed at realising the objectives of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017.

These include the provision of basic and emergency mental healthcare at all community health centres, notification of an essential drug list, budgetary allocations for implementation, establishment of halfway homes and group homes, sensitisation and training for police officers and public officials, emergency mental health training for jail and public healthcare medical staff, collaboration with higher education institutions for training and awareness programmes, and online registration of mental health establishments.

The court directed the state to consider these points seriously and submit a comprehensive status report by the next hearing on July 24.