SC adjourns hearing to May 13; Centre says no need for judicial intervention
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday said it will hear on May 13 the suo motu case on management of COVID-19 as the virtual proceedings were encountering technical glitches and the deferment will give judges more time to go through the government affidavit which was filed late Sunday night.
The top court had asked the Centre to rethink its vaccine and healthcare policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The top court had also directed the Centre to formulate within two weeks a national policy on admissions to hospitals in the wake of the second Covid wave.
In the affidavit, the Centre has justified the COVID-19 vaccination policy saying its response and strategy is completely driven by expert medical and scientific opinion which leaves little room for judicial interference and emphasised that citizens of all age groups will get free vaccination throughout the country.
In 218-page affidavit filed late Sunday night, the central government has said that given the limited availability of vaccines, inoculating the entire population was not possible in one go due to the suddenness of the pandemic but it will ensure its "equitable distribution"
A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud, L N Rao and S Ravindra Bhat said, Our server is down today. We judges had discussion among ourselves and have decided to take up the matter on Thursday.
Justice Bhat further said that in the meantime judges will go through the Centre's compliance affidavit filed late last night and even amicus curiae in the matter will get time to go through the response.
Before the technical glitches stalled the proceeding conducted through video conferencing, Justice Chandrachud referred to a news report and said that two of the judges of the bench got the Centre's affidavit on Monday morning.
Justice Chandrachud said Justice Rao had to take the copy of affidavit from Justice Bhat in the morning as he had not received it.
I got the affidavit late in the night but my brother judges have got it in the morning. I have even read affidavit in the media before I got it, Justice Chandrachud said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that after they filed the affidavit, they served the copy to the state and it was very difficult to know from where the media got it.
The Centre said that in view of the unprecedented and peculiar circumstances under which vaccination drive is devised as an executive policy, the wisdom of the executive should be trusted. In a global pandemic, where the response and strategy of the nation is completely driven by expert medical and scientific opinion, "any overzealous, though well-meaning judicial intervention, may lead to unforeseen and unintended consequences", the government said. The government further said, it is also submitted that citizens of 18 to 44 years are getting vaccination free of cost as all the State Governments have announced free vaccination for this population group of 18-44 years. Thus, all citizens of all age groups will get free vaccination throughout the country." States have also been provided the information of the total number of doses of both vaccines available to them and the UTs from Government of India channel for the identified priority groups (health care workers, frontline workers and population above 45 years of age) free of cost from May 1 to 15 and this data would be released every fortnight, it said.
It said that due to consultations and persuasion by the Central Government both the manufacturers of vaccine — Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India (SII), have declared their respective prices which are uniform for all state governments. This price factor will not have any impact on the ultimate beneficiary namely, the eligible person getting the vaccine since all State Governments have already declared their policy decision that each State will be administering vaccine to its residents, free of cost, it said. Centre has also ruled out door-to-door vaccination of people and said the inoculation will be done at identified COVID Vaccination Centres (CVC), both government and private, registered on COWIN for "good, germane and rational reasons". It said that four key requirements of CVC under the COVID-19 vaccination programme are availability of adequate space, adequate cold storage facility, adequate number of vaccinators and medical support staff and adequate arrangements for management of Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI).
The Centre has told the Supreme Court that all central and state government hospitals managing COVID patients have been directed to ensure that no patient is refused admission due to lack of a valid identity card and a positive test report for coronavirus. The Centre submitted that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has intimated all state governments regarding the policy of setting up three-tier Health infrastructure for appropriate management of suspect/ confirmed COVID-19 cases.
The government has also told the top court that all states must ensure special teams at different levels to mercilessly clamp down on hoarding and black marketing of drugs during the COVID-19 pandemic and send a clear message that trading in human miseries shall not be tolerated. The Centre has said the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had communicated to all state drugs controllers (SDCs) that there should be zero tolerance to any kind of hoarding or black marketing of drugs and also to instruct their enforcement staff to keep strict vigil and take stringent action.
It said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has requested the state governments to take all necessary measures to stop black marketing or hoarding of drugs under the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, The Essential Commodities Act and other applicable rules and regulations.
