Senior Advocates Appeal To AG To Request Government To Extend Vaccination For COVID-19 To Members Of Legal Fraternity

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi remarked, "I think the AG should exercise his constitutional right and request the government to ensure that the vaccine is given to all senior lawyers of the Bar".

He further added that by the term "senior", he was not referring to merely those who were Senior Advocates, but were "senior" in terms of age.

The aforementioned exchange took place during the Constitution Bench hearing of the challenge against the constitutionality of the Maharashtra Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act, 2018, which provided for a quota to Marathas in jobs and education.

At the previous hearing, Rohatgi had placed forward his concerns pertaining to the inability of the Counsels to prepare for the matter due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the existence of voluminous files, thereby necessitating physical hearings.

Rohatgi stated that he had heard in the "corridors of the Court" that the Supreme Court intended to resume physical functioning after almost a year of virtual hearings.

During the discussion, which also included Senior Advocates Arvind Datar, Kapil Sibal and Shyam Divan, Rohatgi informed the Court that only 50% people were turning up for vaccination and that stocks were piling.

"Someone has told me to file a PIL on this issue", stated Rohatgi.

In response to Datar raising the matter of herd immunity, Rohatgi mentioned that he had spoken to the Delhi Government who had informed him that it would take 3-4 months to achieve 60-70% herd immunity.

At this juncture, Rohatgi appealed to the AG to exercise his constitutional right to request the government to disseminate the vaccine to senior members of the legal fraternity.

Similar requests for extension of vaccination programme to the legal fraternity and for their inclusion in the ambit of "frontline workers" have previously been made by the Supreme Court Bar Association as well.