Micromanagement by judiciary not required: Bombay High Court asks State to consider suggestions on COVID-19 vaccination process

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the State government to consider the suggestions made by petitioner Yogeeta Vanzara in relation to the challenges faced by citizens of Mumbai in obtaining COVID-19 vaccination appointments through the CoWin app..The grievance raised by Vanzara in her petition was that since vaccination slots were not being disclosed before hand, citizens had to waste their time checking for slots through the day. Advocate Jamsheed Master appearing for Vanzara informed the Court that districts like Kolhapur, Nandurbar and Gadchiroli published slots for vaccines in advance. This, he said, helped citizens to apply for leave before hand if required, or plan for vaccinating the elderly in the house. .He added that a representation giving suggestions to this effect had been made to the Central government, the State and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).The Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni directed the State government to consider the representation made by Vanzara."Let them consider the suggestions. They have to balance your suggestions with the facts that the stock is not wasted, especially in situations where the people do not turn up despite registration...Judiciary will step in when it needs to. Micro management at this level is not required. These are administrative decisions...let them look into the bottlenecks," the Court said..The representation made to the governments made the following suggestions:Making weekly plan available. Central government has time and again mentioned that it has full visibility of availability of vaccines on a month-to-month basis. Open booking of vaccination slots at a fixed time.Monitoring by City Task force.Walk-in facility for persons aged 18-44 with comorbidities.Walk-in facility for economically backward persons/people wo do not have smart phones..The Court also directed the Central and State governments to apprise it on what steps they had taken to inform citizens about the Centre's new Standard Operating Procedure on COVID-19 vaccination for people who do not possess one of the seven identity cards prescribed for the purpose. This direction was made in a public interest litigation seeking directions to ensure that homeless persons, including those who are suffering from any mental illness, are provided access to vaccines. Advocate Sarosh Bharucha informed the Court that some of the difficulties faced by the persons under the regular phases of vaccination were lack of documentation and lack of access to the internet.The Court has posted both matters for hearing on June 17.