Don’t wait at borders for virus to come out, carry out surgical strike: HC

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday said the Centres approach against coronavirus which is the societys biggest enemy at present should be like a surgical strike instead of standing at the borders waiting for the virus to come outA division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni said the Union governments new near to home vaccination programme was like waiting for the virus carrier to come to the CentreCoronavirus is our biggest enemy We need to strike it down The enemy is residing in certain areas and in some people who are unable to come out Your government approach should be like a surgical strike You are standing at the borders waiting for the virus carrier to come to you You are not entering the enemy territoryrdquo Chief Justice Datta saidThe bench said the government was taking decisions for the welfare of the public at large but they were delayed which has resulted in the loss of several livesThe court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by two advocates Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari seeking a direction to the government to start a doortodoor vaccination programme for senior citizens above the age of 75 specially abled persons and those who are wheelchairbound or bedriddenThe Union government on Tuesday told the court that currently doortodoor vaccination was not possible but it has decided to start near to home vaccination centresOn Wednesday the HC pointed out examples of the doortodoor vaccination programmes started by Kerala Jammu and Kashmir Bihar and Odisha and also a few municipal corporations like VasaiVirar in MaharashtraAlso Read Mumbai 3 get Covid19 twice in 40 days treatment triggers debateldquoWhy should the same not be encouraged in other states across the country The central government cannot clip the wings of those state governments and civic bodies who wish to do it doortodoor vaccination but are waiting for the Centres nodrdquo the court saidIt further asked why only Maharashtra and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC were waiting for the Centres nod to start doortodoor vaccination when other states in the north south and east have started it already without any nodldquoWhy is only the west waitingrdquo Chief Justice Datta asked The bench noted that even the BMC had failed to live up to the courts expectations by saying it was willing to start doortodoor vaccination only if the Union government permitsldquoWe always praise the BMC and have been saying it is a model for other statesrdquo the court saidThe HC also questioned the BMC as to how at the beginning of the vaccination drive a senior politician got his dose at his residence in Mumbai ldquoMy question to you BMC is at the very inception of the drive we found that a very senior politician got the jab at his home in Mumbai Who did it The BMC or the state government Somebody has to take the responsibilityrdquo the court saidThe bench directed BMCs counsel Anil Sakhare and additional government pleader Geeta Shashtri appearing for the state to find out which authority administered the vaccine to the politician at his residenceThe court also directed Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh appearing for the Centre to consider the issue once again ldquoWe trust the government will come up with a sound policy taking into consideration what is happening in the country The Centre should recognise the sentiments of not only the senior citizens and those who are unable to go to the vaccination centres but also their family membersrdquo the court saidThe bench posted the matter for further hearing on June 11This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever