oppn parties Supreme Court Slams 'Liberalized' Vaccination Policy

Story Of The Day

Assessee Not Responsible For Ensuring TDS Is Paid To The Government: Delhi HC
OPINIONS : Strongly Expressed

January 22, 2025

People Are Talking About

Rohit Warns Sarfaraz, Police Use It To Warn Two-Wheeler Riders

News Snippets

  • Sikh extremists attacked a cinema hall in London that was playing Kangana Ranaut's controversial film 'Emergency'
  • A Delhi court directed the investigating agencies to senstize officers to collect nail clippings, fingernail scrappings or finger swab in order to get DNA profile as direct evidence of sexual attack is often not present and might result in an offender going scot free
  • Uniform Civil Code rules cleared by state cabinet, likely to be implemented in the next 10 days
  • Supreme Court reiterates that there is no point in arresting the accused after the chargesheet has been filed and the investigation is complete
  • Kolkata court sentences Sanjoy Roy, the sole accused in the R G Kar rape-murder case, to life term. West Bengal government and CBI to appeal in HC for the death penalty
  • Supreme Court stays criminal defamation case against Rahul Gandhi for his remarks against home minister Amit Shah in Jharkhand during the AICC plenary session
  • Government reviews import basket to align it with the policies of the Trump administration
  • NCLT orders liquidation of GoAir airlines
  • Archery - Indian archers bagged 2 silver in Nimes Archery tournament in France
  • Stocks make impressive gain on Monday - Sensex adds 454 points to 77073 and Nifty 141 points to 23344
  • D Gukesh draws with Fabiano Caruana in the Tata Steel chess tournament in the Netherlands
  • Women's U-19 T20 WC - In a stunning game, debutants Nigeria beat New Zealand by 2 runs
  • Rohit Sharma to play under Ajinkye Rahane in Mumbai's Ranji match against J&K
  • Virat Kohli to play in Delhi's last group Ranji trophy match against Saurashtra. This will be his first Ranji match in 12 years
  • The toll in the Rajouri mystery illness case rose to 17 even as the Centre sent a team to study the situation
Calling the case not 'rarest of rare', a court in Kolkata sentenced Sanjay Roy, the only accused in the R G Kar rape-murder case to life in prison until death
oppn parties
Supreme Court Slams 'Liberalized' Vaccination Policy

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-06-02 15:15:25

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

The Supreme Court has slammed the government's vaccination policy for 18-45 year-olds. It has called the decisions "prima facie arbitrary and irrational" .

The court also rejected the government charge that the judiciary should steer clear of intervening in executive decisions. It was of the view that the judiciary cannot be a silent spectator if the constitutional rights of citizens are violated due to executive policy. The people have the right to seek redress from the judiciary and the courts will do so as per law.

The court also wanted to know from the government the comparative pricing for vaccines in India and the rest of the world. It was especially inquisitive about the use of Rs 35000 crore set aside for vaccination and asked the government to place on record the complete details (dates of orders placed, quantity ordered and projected dates of supply) of vaccine procurement and supply. It also asked the government to place on record the projected roadmap of availability of vaccines till December 31 2021.

Asking the question "if Rs 35,000 crore has been allocated for vaccine, why it cannot be used for vaccinating the 18-44 age group" the court went on to say that "due to the importance of vaccinating individuals in the 18-44 age group, the policy of the Central Government for conducting free vaccination themselves for groups under the first 2 phases, and replacing it with paid vaccination by the State/UT Governments and private hospitals for the persons between 18-44 years is, prima facie, arbitrary and irrational".

Under the garb of 'liberalized' vaccine policy, the government had let vaccine manufacturers charge differently from the Centre, the states and private hospitals and had asked 18-45 year-olds to pay for getting jabbed. It was reported that people in India were paying a lot more for vaccination than in other countries. The government has also not disclosed how it will spend the Rs 35000 crore earmarked for vaccination. Hence, the top courts intervention is timely. The case will be heard again on June 30 by which time the government is expected to come up with the answers to the questions posed by the bench. 

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

Turmoil In Mollywood

Turmoil In Mollywood

NDA 3.0: Coalition Dharma

NDA 3.0: Coalition Dharma

In Depth

Supreme Court Gets Strict On Child Pornography

Supreme Court Gets Strict On Child Pornography

Editor's Pick

Budapest Chess Olympiad: India Are World Team Champions

Budapest Chess Olympiad: India Are World Team Champions
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.