Decision on vaccine must be left to 'executive's wisdom': Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing on a PIL seeking COVID19 vaccination for lawyers and judges on priority saying some decisions must be left to the executives wisdomThe court also said it was rather selfish of the petitioners to seek vaccination on priority for the judiciaryA bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni was hearing a plea filed by Mumbaibased lawyers seeking that members of the judiciary advocates and their staff be considered as frontline workers and they be provided vaccine against COVID19 on a priority basisThe petitioners advocates Vaishnavi Gholave and Yogesh Morbale filed the plea last week through their counsels Vinod P Sangvikar and Yashodeep DeshmukhThe petitioner lawyers told the bench on Wednesday that the HC worked throughout the pandemic period and all lawyers judges and staff continued to work regardless of the risk of contracting the viral infectionThe bench however reminded the petitioners that many others such as sanitation workers and staff of several private organisations also continued to work in this periodWhy not file a PIL for the staff of private organisations dabbawalas That way everyone is a frontline worker the bench saidSomething should be left for the executives wisdom Tell us what is wrong with the policy A policy decision cannot be interfered with by the court unless there is arbitrariness it saidThe bench also said the government was doing a fine job with the ongoing vaccination programme in the countryThe court said it was rather selfish of the petitioners to seek vaccination on priority for the judiciaryHave you seen the movie Titanic Do you recollect captain of ship He has to wait till others are evacuated First everyone gets it and then judiciary I am the captain here Chief Justice Datta saidThe Union governments counsel Additional Solicitor General ASG Anil Singh told the HC that similar matters were pending in various other high courts across the countryHe also said the Delhi High Court had taken suo moto on its own cognisance of the vaccination driveSingh also said the Bharat Biotech which has developed the COVID19 vaccine Covaxin had filed an application before the Supreme Court for transferring all the applications to the apex courtThe HC then said it will refrain from making any observations on the policy decision till the Supreme Court decides on the transfer pleaThe court also said if and when the government decides to vaccinate members of the judiciary the ASG and other lawyers must suggest that lawyers working under the legal services authority are considered firstIt directed the ASG to clarify by March 17 the next date of hearing what were the requirements to prove ones comorbidities and become eligible for receiving the vaccineCurrently vaccination is underway in India for medical staff those classified by the government as frontline workers and for citizens above 60 years of age or those in the age group of 45 and 59 with comorbiditiesThis 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