The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a petition seeking inclusion of lawyers, judges and court staff in the priority list for coronavirus vaccination, Live Law reported. A bench of Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian said it will consider the matter and issued a notice to the Centre seeking its response, according to the Hindustan Times.
The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation, filed by Arvind Singh, which said that the Centre had not considered the claim of members of the judiciary to be included in the priority category for the vaccine.
The plea stated that the Centre has not identified population groups that should be vaccinated first on the basis of any set criteria, and that it “suffers from arbitrariness and non-application of mind”, PTI reported.
“Police, security forces, revenue officials – all these people have been given priority,” advocate Anil Khemka, appearing for the petitioner, argued, according to Live Law. “But all these people, whatever they do, culminates into the judicial system.”
In January, the Supreme Court Bar Association wrote to Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, seeking the inclusion of the legal fraternity in the category of “frontline workers” for the vaccination programme, Live Law reported.
The court posted the matter for hearing again after two weeks, even as the counsel demanded an immediate date.
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