'Maharashtra govt playing politics over allowing all on local trains'

Commuters in an AC local near Thane. File pic

The vaccine mandate for travelling in local trains continues to be a bone of contention with the state issuing fresh guidelines, reiterating that only those with at least two doses of COVID-19 vaccine will be allowed to travel. "We are sad that our state government has been playing politics for the last two years," lamented senior citizen passenger committee member Mansoor Umer Darvesh from Jogeshwari. Darvesh had sparked debate in August 2021, published on mid-day front-page, by stating in a letter to the chief minister's office and the railway bosses that vaccination was a choice and public transport was right.

Mansoor Umer Darvesh, Senior Citizen Passenger Committee member

Speaking to mid-day on Friday after the Maharashtra government refused to withdraw restrictions on unvaccinated using Mumbai local trains despite high court nudge, Darvesh said BMC has removed all restrictions from theatres, gymnasiums, marriage halls but only public transport, including local trains, were restricted. "Mumbai local trains and public transport are the only modes of transportation which are affordable to the common man. There is no point in having such restrictions. Enough is enough. Now the ball is in the high court. Unless the high court takes a bold decision, the common man will continue to suffer," he said.

One of the petitioners Yohan Tengra said on social media, "In our hearing, Bombay HC Chief Justice Dipankar Datta said he made a huge mistake by trusting that the state government and state executive committee would respect the advice/direction given by the bench to them, regarding removing restrictions which have been imposed on unvaccinated people to travel. Instead of following the courts directions, the state issued a new order which continues to violate the fundamental rights of the citizens. The Chief Justice said that he should have exercised his suo moto powers and quashed all the state orders which have been issued since August, as they are all illegal and violate the fundamental rights of the citizens, instead of giving a chance to the state. He said that he will not forget this and that the court would remember this breach of trust in the future."

Tengra added, "The CJ reprimanded the Counsel for govt by stating that you say that vaccination is voluntary but indirectly making it mandatory to access public facilities. He said, "it is very unfortunate that you are insisting everyone should get vaccinated" questioning, "Is there no personal choice available?" He said that he should have exercised his suo moto powers and quashed all the state orders which have been issued since August, as they all violate the fundamental rights of the citizens, instead of giving a chance to the state. He said that he will not forget this and that the court would remember this breach of trust in the future. The bench asked the petitioners to file a fresh petition challenging the new order, which we will be doing very soon, and the matter will be up for hearing in court soon. As the judges have understood the urgency behind it, which is why they were taking this matter up almost daily since the last few hearings. This is a huge victory for all of us in Maharashtra, as the Chief Justice has set a precedent in law by declaring all of the orders that the state has passed since August regarding vaccine discrimination as ILLEGAL. It is only a matter of time before they are officially struck down in court, until then we can all use this order to exercise our fundamental rights while travelling, going to malls, offices, etc. All authorities have no obligation to follow any of these orders as the Chief Justice has declared that they are illegal, it is only due to technical reasons that the order could not be set aside in today's hearing.

"Another huge point of victory -- Fearing prosecution, the State of Maharashtra has removed the provision of fines for masks and vaccines in their latest order, after Senior Advocate Nilesh Ojha mentioned in Bombay HC there is no provision for fines in the Disaster Management Act," Tengra said, adding, apart from this, there are many other gross illegalities in this order, which will be challenged and officially quashed soon.

Commuters travel in a local train. The Bombay High Court has said the orders restricting unvaccinated commuters from taking trains was illegal. File pic

Bombay High Court Chief Justice Dipankar Datta on Wednesday said he had made a huge mistake by trusting that the state government and state executive committee would respect the advice/direction of the bench regarding removal of restrictions on unvaccinated people.

The Chief Justice said that he should have exercised his suo motu powers and quashed all the state orders which have been issued since August, as they are all illegal and violate the fundamental rights of the citizens, instead of giving a chance to the state. He said that he will not forget this and that the court would remember this breach of trust in the future.

The Chief Justice also reprimanded the counsel for the government and pointed out that while vaccination is said to be voluntary, the government is making it mandatory in an indirect manner by making it mandatory to avail public facilities.

Feb 22
Day the Bombay HC first pulled up the state