Govt must have ‘ear to ground’, says SC
Top court poses searching questions to Centre on vaccine procurement policy, need for registration on COWIN app
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday posed searching questions to the Centre on the Covid-19 vaccine procurement policy and need for mandatory registration on the COWIN app for people to get vaccinated without keeping in mind the real “digital India” situation, observing that the policy makers must have an ear to the ground.
A special bench of justices DY Chandrachud, LN Rao and S Ravindrabhat said that since the Centre has made COWIN registration mandatory for vaccination, how is it going to address the issue of digital divide facing the country.
“You keep on saying the situation is dynamic but policy makers must have their ears on ground. You keep on saying digital India, digital India but the situation is actually different in rural areas. How will an illiterate labourer, from Jharkhand get registered in Rajasthan? Tell us how you will address this digital divide,” the bench sought to know from solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who was representing the Centre.
It said, “You must smell the coffee and see what is happening across the country. You must know the ground situation and change the policy accordingly. If we had to do it, we would have done it 15-20 days back.”
Mehta replied that registration is mandatory as a person needs to be traced for a second dose and as far as rural areas there are community centres where a person can get registered for vaccination.
The bench questioned Mehta whether the government thinks that this process is viable and asked him to place the policy document on record.
The top court was hearing a suo motu case on management of Covid situation in the country.
It asked the Centre about its vaccine procurement policy by referring to the fact that states like Punjab and Delhi are in the process of issuing global tend