‘Please smell the coffee’: Citing flaws, SC grills Centre on vaccine decisions

The Supreme Court on Monday shot a volley of tough questions at the Centre in connection with its Covid19 vaccine policy and flagged various flaws shortage of vaccine doses pricing issues registration for vaccination and lack of vaccine especially for the rural areas in the countryA bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud was informed by the Centre that it expects to vaccinate all by the end of December 2021 The bench also comprising L Nageswara Rao and S Ravindra Bhat cited the discrepancy in the supply of vaccine for different age groupsJustice Bhat queried Solicitor General Tushar Mehta representing the Centre what is the rationale for dual policy Centre is procuring certain amount and not willing to give it to states at some rateJustice Chandrachud noted that for the population above 45 years procurement is by Centre as of May 1 and for below 45 50 percent to states is by manufacturers on pro rata basis He further queried The price is determined by Centre What is the basis for Centre to say that for 45 and above we will supply and procure vaccines free of charge and for below 45 states will have logistical arrangementsThe bench told the Centres counsel that governments rationale was high mortality in 45 group but in the second wave this group is not seriously affected instead it was 1844 age group The bench added If purpose is to procure vaccines why should the Centre procure only for over 45Also Read Vaccination in Pvt hotels must be stopped Centre to StatesThe bench also asked the Centre why it has left it to manufacturers to fix price of vaccines and stressed that Centre has to take over responsibility of one price for the nation The top court added why states had to pay more for the vaccines than the CentreThe bench told the Centre that policy makers must have their ears on ground and told Mehta You keep on saying digital India but the situation is actually different in rural areas How will an illiterate labourer from Jharkhand get registered in Rajasthan Tell us how you will address this digital divideMehta replied registration is mandatory as person needs to be traced for the second dose and for rural areas there are community centres for the purpose of registration for the vaccination The bench asked Mehta to place the policy document on record as it queried on the viability of the processJustice Chandrachud remarked please smell the coffee He told the Centre that the court wants it to smell the coffee and realise what is happening in the country and make the necessary amendments The top court gave two weeks to the Centre to file its response on these concernsAccording to Centres new liberalised policy states can buy up to 50 per cent of their vaccine needs from manufacturers although at higher prices than that fixed by it And private hospitals have to pay even higher prices This differential pricing sparked a political uproar where the Opposition reminding it of its one nation one price war cryThis 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