Bombay HC pulls up Maharashtra politicians for getting COVID vaccine jabs at home

Pulling up Maharashtra politicians for receiving the COVID-19 vaccine at their residences, the Bombay High Court on Friday said if the prime minister and president of the country can go to hospitals and get inoculated, then politicians in the state should also follow suit. The court warned the concerned state department of action if it came across any such incident in future. Maharashtra clocks over 50,000 COVID cases daily, with vaccination stopped at many centres across the state due to vaccine shortage.

Bombay HC pulls up Maha politicians

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni was hearing a public interest litigation filed by advocates Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari seeking door-to-door vaccination facility for senior citizens above the age of 75, specially-abled persons and those who are bed- ridden or wheel-chair bound. Advocate Advait Sethna, appearing for the Centre, told the court that door-to-door vaccination facility was not yet available. The bench asked if the policy was not available then how come some political leaders of Maharashtra were getting vaccinated in their homes. The bench posted the petition for further hearing on April 21 and said it would also look into how the process of registering for the vaccine can be made more user-friendly.

"Political leaders in Maharashtra are getting the jab sitting at their homes. If policy does not permit door-to- door, then how come for these politicians the policy is different. There has to be uniform policy for all," Chief Justice Datta said adding, "Everyone including the prime minister and president of India are going to centres and hospitals to get the vaccine. The political leaders of Maharashtra are not a class apart. This sends a wrong message." The bench also noted another issue of concern in the state, that is lack of vaccines.

Vaccine shortage in Maharashtra

On Thursday, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope revealed that the state has only two days of COVID-19 vaccine stock left. Claiming that states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, etc. have been given more vaccines in comparison with population and COVID-19 cases, he stated that Maharashtra has been given only 7.5 lakh vaccine doses in the latest allotment. While acknowledging that the Centre had increased this limit to 17 lakh, Tope opined that this was not enough as the state is vaccinating approximately 6 lakh people every day. The Centre has contradicted such claims pulling up the governments of Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Punjab and Maharashtra for their "poor vaccination" efforts.

(With PTI Inputs)