New Delhi: The country's apex court agreed to hear a PIL seeking inclusion of judges, judicial staff and lawyers in the priority category for the inoculation of COVID-19 vaccine on February 16.
A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian posted the petition filed by advocate Arvind Singh for hearing two weeks later.
The petition said that people associated with the judiciary are also engaged in providing essential services like other front line warriors. While considering this petition, the court sought a reply from the Centre.
The petition, filed through advocate Rishi Sehgal, said that the petition was filed to ensure that judges, lawyers, court employees and lawyers' employees, who are one of the essential services as judicial administration, should be included in priority category for the administration of COVID-19 vaccine.
The PIL states that the Centre has identified the group, which will be vaccinated first, but it is not based on any specific criteria and it is clearly designed to be arbitrary and thoughtless.
"The 'Operational Guidelines' published by Respondents nowhere provides for any mechanism and criteria upon which such priority population groups have been identified, showing arbitrariness The said decision of Respondents is ad-hoc and not based on a rational basis," the plea said.
India launched its Covid-19 vaccination drive on January 16. In what could be stated as the world's largest vaccination programme priority for the administration of the Covid-19 vaccine was given to nearly three crore healthcare and frontline workers.
A government statement said that after the healthcare and frontline workers, priority will be given to those above 50 years of age and the under-50 population groups with co-morbidities, together numbering around 27 crore.
The latest electoral roll for Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly elections will be used to identify the population aged 50 years or more, according to the Health Ministry guidelines on COVID-19 vaccination.