Consider issuing 'common card' to fully vaccinated people for travel: HC to Maha

The Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the Maharashtra government to think about identifying and separating those who have taken both doses of Covid19 vaccine from the rest and provide a common card to the fully inoculated people to allow them unrestricted travel and workThe court said the state government should consider allowing people who have received both doses of the antiCovid19 vaccine to travel by local trains and carry on with activities that were permitted before the pandemicA bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni also said the state and the Union government must consider issuing a common card that identifies a citizen as fully vaccinated against Covid19 and permits him or her to travel and work unrestrainedThe bench was presiding over a bunch of public interest litigations seeking permission for lawyers judicial clerks and staff journalists and other fully vaccinated people to travel in local trains in MumbaiAdvocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni who appeared for the Maharashtra government told the HC that a letter from the State Disaster Management Authority will be issued for lawyers and registered judicial clerks based on which the Railways will issue them passes permitting local train travelThe bench then referred to an interview with Maharashtra Covid19 task force member Dr Shashank Joshi published in a newspaper in the morningDr Joshi said in the interview that the state was yet to achieve the target of fully vaccinating at least 70 per cent of its populationHe said onethird of Maharashtras population was still highly susceptible to getting infected by the coronavirus and unrestricted local train travel even for the fully vaccinated could not be permitted yet as identifying the fully vaccinated was cumbersome according to the HCIf Dr Joshi says it can be done train travel subject to identification it is for the state and the Centre to identify the fully vaccinated people the HC saidOnethird of the population is still susceptible to the virus Then this onethird population should be separated from the twothird or from the fully vaccinated At least provide them with a card identifying them as fully vaccinated the HC saidThe court said in some western nations people used such cards for access to public transportYou can have a common card that can be used as an ID for everything allowed for the fully vaccinated even foreign travel the HC saidKumbhakoni and Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh who appeared for the Union government said they will discuss the idea of a common cardThe court directed the Maharashtra government to file an affidavit by August 12 submitting the proposed plan for permitting fully vaccinated citizens the use of local trains in the cityIt said it will consider all other issues raised in the above PILs on August 16As we celebrate the countrys independence on the 15th let us hope on 16th we will get independence from all these issues too restrictions on travel trade imposed in the state in view of the pandemic the HC saidThe court also suggested that the Maharashtra government constitute an expert administrative body to look into citizens grievances on subjects such as local commute public transport and other social issuesYou cant compare Mumbai with any other city in this state Its complexion is totally different It is a city with special needs so why not constitute an expert committee to consider local train travel other social issues so that citizens are not forced to approach the HC for everything the high court saidLet the state machinery be geared up to tackle these different issues affecting your citizens it saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever