The Delhi High Court has asked the Central Government and other authorities to file a response by September 24 on a petition, alleging that despite getting both doses of vaccine against COVID-19, a woman was yet to get certificate for the same.
The matter was listed before the Bench headed by Justice Rekha Palli on Thursday.
On being queried, Advocate Anuj Aggarwal, Additional Standing Counsel for the Delhi Government, informed the court that vaccination certificates were issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, through the COWIN application.
The Court asked him to look into the matter and granted him time to file a counter affidavit in the matter.
The petition was filed by one J Mangalam, through Advocate Syed Hasan Isfahani. The plea averred that Ms Mangalam, along with her husband, got first dose of vaccine on March 23 at Kalawati Saran Children Hospital (KSCH), a hospital associated with Lady Hardinge Medical College.
Subsequently, her husband received the certificate through an SMS link, however, no certificate was issued to the petitioner. Ms Mangalam made several visits to the said hospital to enquire about her certificate, but no action was taken on her request.
The petitioner and her husband got their second dose of vaccination from the said hospital on May 3. She drew attention of the hospital authorities over non-issuance of certificate for her first dose, to which an e-Vaccination Officer admitted of the technical glitch and informed that she would now receive both the certificates.
Subsequently, her husband got his final vaccination certificate, however this time, the petitioner was wrongly issued certificate for the first dose, instead of final certificate for being fully vaccinated. She made a representation before the concerned authorities on May 14, requesting for issuance of the final vaccination certificate to her, but no corrective action was taken.
“The non-issuance of certificate caused harassment to the petitioner as in absence of such certificate, the petitioner is not able to travel to those places, requiring certificate of both doses of vaccination,” the plea contended.
“The inaction of respondent no 3 (KSCH) not only caused great difficulty to the petitioner, but she was forced to take another extra dose of vaccination, which is against the prescribed medical norms,” the petition added.
The woman prayed for a direction to the concerned authorities to issue the Vaccination Certificate in accordance with the applicable rules within one week.