The Supreme Court will hear tomorrow the plea filed by NGO Evara Foundation seeking door-to-door facility of vaccination for disabled persons.
The NGO has been working for the empowerment of persons with disabilities and towards the overall betterment of society for a long time.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati submitted that they have comprehensively dealt with all the suggestions and apart from 2-3 things, everything has already been done. She further requested the bench to look at the affidavit of January 13.
The bench of Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Surya Kant asked the Amicus along with the Solicitor General and ASG to be ready tomorrow.
Filing an affidavit in response to a petition filed by NGO Evara Foundation in the Apex Court seeking door-to-door, priority Covid-19 vaccination for persons with disabilities, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that it has not issued any SOP that makes it mandatory to carry the vaccination certificate for any purpose.
The Union government stated that the directions and guidelines issued by the Government of India and the Ministry were in the larger public interest, keeping in view the Coronavirus pandemic.
The ministry said they have taken the help of social media and other platforms to advise and make the citizens aware that they should all get vaccinated and systems and processes have been designed to facilitate the same.
However, it does not envisage forcible vaccination of an individual, without obtaining his/her consent, it added.
The affidavit further stated that some states have issued orders to disincentivise the refusal of vaccination by citizens. Maharashtra had said that only fully vaccinated individuals would be allowed on local trains, and the Kerala government had said the state would not bear the cost of Covid-19 treatment for unvaccinated individuals.
The Supreme Court had earlier permitted the Foundation to formulate any concrete steps to strengthen the existing framework for facilitating the vaccination of disabled persons, and ensure that they have proper access to the process to which the government had then said that it had accordingly received the suggestions and considered them.
CASE NAME- EVARA FOUNDATION v UNION OF INDIA AND ORS