Kerala High Court dismisses plea to remove PM Modi photo from COVID vaccine certificate, imposes ₹1 lakh costs

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition that sought the removal of PM Narendra Modi's photograph from the COVID vaccination certificates issued via the CoWIN portal [Peter Myaliparampil v Union of India]..The Court also imposed costs of ₹1 lakh on the petitioner Peter Myaliparampil stating that the plea is frivolous and seems to have been filed with political motives "According to my opinion this is a frivolous petition filed with ulterior motives. there seems to be political motives and deserves to be dismissed with heavy cost. Plea dismissed with costs of ₹1 lakh," the single-judge ordered."I know this is a heavy cost but we must prevent such frivolous petitions," the judge added.The costs have to be paid to Kerala State Legal Services Authority within a period of 6 weeks.The Court also mused how thousands of matters concerning liberty of individuals are pending before the Court and petitions of the present kind end up wasting the Court's time."In such a situation such frivolous petitions must be dismissed with heavy cost. Therefore petition is dismissed with ₹1 lakh cost," the Court said.The judgment was delivered by single-judge Justice PV Kunhikrishnan on a petition filed by a Right to Information (RTI) activist who claimed to have received paid COVID-19 vaccination from a private hospital. Thereafter, he received a vaccination certificate which had a photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with the message: “medicine and strict controls (in Malayalam), together India will defeat COVID-19 (in English)”.The petitioner had claimed that his concern that the national campaign against Covid-19 was being used as a media campaign for the PM was fortified on receiving the certificate with the photograph..The Court had previously questioned the petitioner on his objection to the inclusion of the photograph and asked him why he seemed to be ashamed of the PM. "He became PM because of the mandate of the people. We have different political opinions but he is still our prime minister," the Court had remarked during the hearing of the matter on December 13.The Court had also asked for an explanation as to how the inclusion of current PM Narendra Modi's image on vaccine certificates differs from naming a university in the name of former PM Jawaharlal Nehru."What is the problem if Prime Minister Modi's name is there on the vaccine certificate? You work at an Institute named after Jawaharlal Nehru, he is also a Prime Minister. Why not ask the university to remove that name also", the judge had orally remarked..The petitioner, through advocate Ajit Joy, had contended that affixing the PM's photograph on COVID certificate, particularly when he had paid for the vaccination, is a violation of his fundamental rights as he can be considered as captive audience.This goes against his free speech right, including the right against compelled listening, protected by Article 19 of the Constitution of India, it was argued.Referring to the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court (in Common Cause v. Union of India) on campaigns using public money, it was pointed out that no individual, including the Prime Minister, can be credited for the launch of an initiative or be celebrated for achievements of a certain policy of the State on government expense.Further, it was argued that the vaccine certificate is an individual's private space with personal health details and the inclusion of a photograph of the PM is wholly unnecessary and intrusive. Pertinently, it was contended that it violates citizens' independent choice of voting by using the vaccine certificate as the campaign space for one individual.For the Central government, it was argued that the petition is not maintainable as there is no mention of violation of constitutional rights. Moreover, the petitioner has only paid for the vaccination, not the vaccine certificate, it was contended..[Read Judgment]