Soni Satti
The Supreme Court ordered a stay on all High Court proceedings in cases involving the inclusion of legal fraternity in the priority list for COVID-19 vaccination.
A divisional bench comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justice Ramasubramanian, and Justice Bopanna stated that the matter will be taken once the respondents in both the transfer petitions filed by Serum Institute and Bharat are served with the notice requesting transfer of related cases to the Supreme Court.
While hearing the case, the Bench asked if all petitions had received notices. Advocate Harish Salve Appearing on behalf of Serum Institute’s responded and informed the court that the notice may not have been delivered in one plea.
Advocate Salve further informed the court that The Serum Institute of India (SII) has revised the petition to include the hearings in the Bombay High Court, which were originally stayed in the Delhi High Court.
In the order the Supreme Court stated, “List the matters after two weeks. Service be complete in the meantime. There shall be a stay of further proceedings before the High Court’’
The Bench was hearing a petition seeking to add attorneys, judges, and court personnel to the COVID vaccination priority list.
The court was also hearing petitions from Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech, both of which requested that their cases be transferred to the Supreme Court.
The present PIL, filed by Adv. Arvind Singh, seeks vaccine priority for the legal profession, but the Centre has objected, claiming that granting priority to one occupation over another may be discriminatory.