[Covid19 Vaccine For Legal Fraternity] Fair Or Unfair To Put Legal Professionals First?

Good News for Lawyers..

The Supreme Court on Thursday noted that the lawyers' proposals for being prioritised in administering the COVID vaccine for the legal fraternity is actually prima facie because lawyers had to meet with people to continue their practice and make money.

CJI SA Bobde, along with Justice AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian have heard appeals filed by vaccine manufacturers, Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech for transfer of pending cases.

CJI put to question Solicitor General Tushar Mehta as to whether this representation can be put to an expert committee. 

The Central Government on the other hand emphasized that it would not be fair to put lawyers first.

They said it will be difficult to differentiate between a lawyer of age group 30 to 35 from another vendor or hawker or trader of similar age group who communicates with others in the hustle and bustle of the market. If such request of lawyers is accepted, then tomorrow journalists and other government or private sector employees will also make such a request and state that their livelihood depended on person-to-person contact too.

The CJI acknowledged that the judges on the Bench are not medical professionals and could not explain why one should not be in the first category.

Currently, immunizations are only available to front-line workers such as medical staff and to those over 60 or over 45 with co morbidities. However, both the Delhi and Bombay High Courts had postponed the hearing on the matter after they were informed that appeals had been filed with the Supreme Court by vaccine manufacturers seeking a referral to the High Court.

The Serum Institute in its application for transfer filed by Advocate Malvika Kapila states that any directive issued by the High Court will result in the same letters to PIL in other provinces. Therefore, in order to avoid duplication of conflicting procedures and decisions, the Supreme Court should resolve the matter. These petition(s) stand transferred to the Supreme Court. 

In an affidavit filed with the high court, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Manohar Agnani told the Court that it would not be desirable to create a separate section composed of lawyers and judges as it would discriminate against people involved in other trades or profession.