News Desk, AnyTV, Mumbai
Published by: Amit Mandal
Updated Wed, 02 Mar 2022 06:15 PM IST
Summary
During the hearing, the annoyed bench said that we made a mistake in limiting the scope of this PIL to only three SOPs under the challenge.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday said the Maharashtra government’s decision to continue with the rule making complete vaccination mandatory for using public transport, including local trains, violated fundamental rights. A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justice M S Karnik said the high court should expand its self-acting power and quash several standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the state. This is very unfortunate. You (state government) are insisting that everyone should get vaccinated. There is no question of personal preference. On one hand you say that it is voluntary, not mandatory and on the other hand you create such a situation that everyone should get vaccinated.
The court said – we should have canceled the notifications
The annoyed bench said, “We have made a mistake in limiting the scope of this PIL to only three SOPs under challenge.” We should have gone ahead and canceled all notifications issued after August 10, 2021. But we were hopeful that the state government would take an appropriate decision. This was a lesson for the court. The court was hearing PILs challenging three SOPs issued by the government in July and August 2021, which said that only those who have received both doses of the anti-Covid vaccine can travel in the city by local trains and public transport. can travel.
During the last hearing, the High Court had noted that the then Chief Secretary of Maharashtra, Sitaram Kunte, had decided to unilaterally impose the ban. On February 22, 2022, the court observed that it was desirable that the State Executive Committee take a fresh decision on these issues. But on Wednesday, state counsel Anil Antoorkar informed that the state executive committee met on February 25 and decided to extend the travel ban for those who are not fully vaccinated.
Expansion
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday said the Maharashtra government’s decision to continue with the rule making complete vaccination mandatory for using public transport, including local trains, violated fundamental rights. A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justice M S Karnik said the high court should expand its self-acting power and quash several standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the state. This is very unfortunate. You (state government) are insisting that everyone should get vaccinated. There is no question of personal preference. On one hand you say that it is voluntary, not mandatory and on the other hand you create such a situation that everyone should get vaccinated.
The court said – we should have canceled the notifications
The annoyed bench said, “We have made a mistake in limiting the scope of this PIL to only three SOPs under challenge.” We should have gone ahead and canceled all notifications issued after August 10, 2021. But we were hopeful that the state government would take an appropriate decision. This was a lesson for the court. The court was hearing PILs challenging three SOPs issued by the government in July and August 2021, which said that only those who have received both doses of the anti-Covid vaccine can travel in the city by local trains and public transport. can travel.
During the last hearing, the High Court had noted that the then Chief Secretary of Maharashtra, Sitaram Kunte, had decided to unilaterally impose the ban. On February 22, 2022, the court observed that it was desirable that the State Executive Committee take a fresh decision on these issues. But on Wednesday, state counsel Anil Antoorkar informed that the state executive committee met on February 25 and decided to extend the travel ban for those who are not fully vaccinated.