Mahima
Delhi High Court suo moto registered a Public Interest Litigation demanding prioritizing the Covid-19 vaccination of judges, lawyers, and court staff.
The bench of Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli registered the PIL on a letter written by the Chairman of Bar Council of Delhi, Ramesh Gupta.
The letter sought to issue appropriate directions to the concerned medical or administrative authorities to make necessary arrangements in the court premises for priority vaccination of members of judicial services.
The High Court held-
“Prima Facie, it appears to us that there is weight in the claim made by the Bar Council of Delhi for declaring all persons associated with the judicial functioning, which includes the Judges, the Court Staff, and the lawyers as frontline workers.”
The Court further remarked that the co-morbidities enlisted by the government for making people falling in the age group of 45-60 eligible for Covid-19 vaccination are serious conditions and even if the members of judicial services are not found to be suffering from any of the co-morbidities, it does not exclude or reduce their chances of contracting the disease and suffering with serious health complications, including death.
The Court also noted that it is necessary to consider the availability of both the vaccines, COVISHIELD and COVAXIN, and went ahead to issue notice to its manufacturers, Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech as well as the Central and Delhi Government.
The Court registered the communication of Ramesh Gupta as public interest litigation, “to examine the aforesaid aspects.”
The lawyers’ body had also sought the members of the judiciary to be treated as frontline workers and vaccinated on a priority basis.
The bench mentioned that it has been seen that the number of Covid cases upsurge with intermingling and congregation of people and the air-conditioned premises of Delhi High Court and some district courts combined with augmented crowd traffic once physical functioning of courts resume in its entirety could cause a spike in the number of Covid infections.
It asserted courts are densely populated and thousands of people visit courts on a daily basis. These people include judges, court staff, advocates, and a large number of litigants. Since the lawyers and litigants visit as per the listing of cases and every day different cases are listed bringing peculiarity in the crowd visiting the courts and exposing the judicial members to the risk of contracting the infection. The matter has been listed for further hearing.
