New Delhi, Jan 31 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday asked an NGO to tell the places of Rohingya settlement in Delhi and the facilities accessible to them.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh asked senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for NGO Rohingya Human Rights Initiative to file an affidavit indicating their places of settlement in Delhi.

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Gonsalves said the NGO sought access to public schools and hospitals to Rohingya refugees as they were denied the access due to lack of Aadhaar cards.

"They are refugees having UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) cards and therefore they can't have Aadhaar cards. But, for want of Aadhaar they are not being granted access to public schools and hospitals," he submitted.

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The bench said since there were no aggrieved parties before the court but an entity, the NGO must file an affidavit indicating their places of settlement, specifying if they lived in camps or residential colonies.

Gonsalves said Rohingya refugees resided in Shaheen Bagh, Kalindi Kunj and Khajuri Khas areas of Delhi.

"In Shaheen Bagh and Kalindi Kunj they are residing in slums and in Khajuri Khas they are residing in rented accommodation," he submitted.

The bench said it asked the questions to understand if they lived in camps, the nature of relief would be different than the one mentioned in the PIL.

Gonsalves said in other matters related to Rohingyas, the Centre took a stand that they had the right to go to public schools and hospitals.

The bench observed since the issue related to Rohingyas in Delhi and the NGO challenged the circular of the Delhi government, it would be appropriate if they moved the high court.

It posted the hearing on February 10.

The PIL sought a direction to authorities to grant admission to all Rohingya children free of cost irrespective of Aadhar cards and allow them to participate in all examinations including class 10, 12 and graduation without government insistence on the ID proof.

The PIL also sought extension of all government benefits such as free health services in government hospitals, subsidised food grains as available under Antyodya Anna Yojana scheme and benefits under the Food Security Act to Rohingya families as available to other citizens, irrespective of citizenship.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)