 bill no 197 of  2017 the mental healthcare (amendment) bill, 2017 by dr kirit premjibhai solanki, mp a billto amend the mental healthcare act, 2017be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the mental healthcare (amendment) act, 2017short title and commencement(2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appointamendment of the section 310 of 201752 in section 3 of the mental healthcare act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as the principal act), sub-section (2), shall be omittedamendment of section 53 in section 5 of the principal act, for sub-section (1), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:—10"5 (1) every person, who is not a minor, shall have a right to make an advance directive in writing"4 after section 29 of the principal act, the following section shall be inserted, namely:—| insertion    | of      ||--------------|---------|| new          | section || 29a         |         |"29a (1) the appropriate government shall conduct a survey to identify sections of the population vulnerable to mental illnesses, particularly persons from the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and persons with disabilities5special provisions for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and persons with disabilities(2) the appropriate government shall have a duty to plan, design and implement programmes and schemes for the promotion of mental health awareness, prevention of mental illness and provision of counselling and psychiatric services amongst vulnerable sections of the population, particularly persons from the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes and the persons with disabilities10amendment of section 345 in section 34 of the principal act, after sub-section (1), the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:—"provided that out of the members referred to in clauses (i) to (p) at least one member shall be from the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes and the persons with disabilities"15amendment of section 466 in section 46 of the principal act, after sub-section (1), the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:—"provided that out of the members referred to in clauses (h) to (n) at least one member shall from the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes and the persons with disabilities"20amendment of section 747 in section 74 of the principal act, in sub-section (1), for clause (c), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:—"(c) three members of whom two shall be psychiatrists and the other shall be a medical practitioner" 8 after section 108 of the principal act, the following section shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new section108a25punishment to public servant for failure to perform duty30'108a if any public servant, charged with duty of providing mental healthcare services to mentally ill persons under this act, fails to perform his duty, he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of one year or with fine of rupees ten thousand, in addition to departmental disciplinary action for dereliction of duty' by the government, he shall be punished for not providing the mental healthcare services offered to mentally ill persons under this act in such manner as may be prescribed" statement of objects and reasonsindia being the signatory to the united nations convention on the rights of persons with disabilities in 2007, which made it incumbent on the state to provide shield against the rights of persons with mental illness and promote their access to mental healthcarethe word competency originates from the word 'competent' which indicates the concept involved in the indian contract act, 1872 wherein section 11 connotes eligibility to make a contract however, the mental healthcare act, 2017 has altered the doctor-patient relationship being on treatment by a psychiatrist will not take away a person's 'competence'also, the mental healthcare act, 2017 should not be contrary to any existing law of the india a mentally-ill person shall have the right to make an advance directive that states how he wants to be treated for the illness during a mental health situation and who shall be his nominated representative even it would be quite inappropriate to give such a right selectively to those with mental illnesses, while victims of all other illnesses are not given the same it would be a case of equals being treated unequally and that way discriminatory and unlawfulmoreover, the bill seeks to provide for mental healthcare and services for persons with mental illness and to protect, promote and fulfil the rights of such persons during delivery of mental healthcare and servicesthe bill seeks to achieve the above objectivesnew delhi;kirit premjibhai solankijuly 3, 2017 annexure extract from the mental healthcare act, 2017 (10 of 2017)|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |    ||------|------|------|------|------|------|------|-----|3 (1)     determination of mental illness(2)  no person or authority shall classify a person as a person with mental illness, except for purposes directly relating to the treatment of the mental illness or in other matters as covered under this act or any other law for the time being in force|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |    ||-----|------|------|------|------|------|------|-----|advance directive5 (1) every person, who is not a minor, shall have a right to make an advance directive in writing, specifying any or all of the following, namely:—|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |    ||------|------|------|------|------|------|------|-----|74  (1) each board shall consist of—composition of board(a)   (b)   (c) two members of whom one shall be a psychiatrist and the other shall be a medical practitioner|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |    ||------|------|------|------|------|------|------|-----|———— a billto amend the mental healthcare act, 2017————(dr kirit premjibhai solanki, mp)gmgipmrnd—2439ls(s3)—03112017