Delhi High Court Rejects Priority in Vaccination to the People Already Taken the First Dose

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday declined to make an appeal for seeking refusal of clinical trials of foreign vaccines and priority in vaccination to those people, who have already taken the first dose.

Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh said that the reliefs sought in the petition by a lawyer pertained to the drafting of policies which was not the domain of the courts which would consider making policy decision only in exceptional cases.

The court said that the petition by advocate Nazia Parveen was seeking priority in vaccination for those who have already received the first dose of the vaccine and such a relief cannot be given "just for the asking."

"It has become a fashion in Delhi that every now and then people are rushing to the courts with PILs for priority in vaccination. If everyone is given priority, question would be who will come next in line. Government has its own priorities," the Justice said.

According to the reports, with regard to the prayer seeking information regarding status of vaccine doses ordered for the vaccination drive starting from May 1, these details can be sought under the Right to Information Act and filing a writ petition or an appeal was not the appropriate remedy.

Sanjeev Sagar, the bench said policy decisions are taken by experts in the field as it was a complex phenomena. "The policy cannot be drafted by courts. We are not going to exercise our power to draft a policy," the bench said.

The court said that few of the prayers in the petition related to issues already pending before the Supreme Court and that was another reason not to entertain the plea.

"We see no reasons to entertain the writ petition. Concerned respondent authorities may treat the petition as a representation and decide it in accordance with the law, rules, regulations and government policy applicable to the facts of the case. With these observations, the petition is disposed of," the court added.

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