Justice Chandrachud tests positive, Covid hearing is deferred

Due to the pandemic, the Supreme Court has been hearing cases via video conferencing. Four other judges of the court had tested positive in the past, and have since recovered.

On May 10, the court adjourned the hearing in the Covid matter to May 13 following technical glitches.

Thursday’s scheduled hearing in the Supreme Court in suo motu Covid-19 matter deferred as one of the judges have tested positive. New date to be notified later. @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/I8mTY4GzIz

— Ananthakrishnan G (@axidentaljourno) May 12, 2021

On Thursday, the bench was scheduled to take up an affidavit filed by the Centre in response to certain queries posed by it on April 30. The court had called for “revisiting” the Centre’s “revised” vaccine procurement policy, saying “the manner in which the current policy has been framed would prima facie result in a detriment to the right to public health, which is an integral element of Article 21 of the Constitution.”

It had also sought some answers on the differential pricing of vaccines for states and the Centre.

In its reply filed on May 9, the Centre said that its vaccination policy had been framed to ensure equitable distribution with the limited availability of vaccines and vulnerability, and that vaccinating the entire country was not possible in one go due to the suddenness of the pandemic.

The policy, it said, is “just, equitable, non-discriminatory and based upon an intelligible differentiating factor between the two age groups (45 plus and those below)” and “conforms to mandate of Article 14 and Article 21 of the Constitution of India and is made after several rounds of consultation and discussion with experts, state governments and vaccine manufacturers…”

Urging the court to trust the executive’s decisions, it said the policy requires “no interference by this Hon’ble Court as while dealing with a pandemic of this magnitude, the Executive does have a room for free play…in larger public interest”.