COVID-19: Plea in Delhi HC seeks directions for Centre to begin vaccination of lawyers, DHCBA members
Feb 24, 2021
New Delhi [India], February 24 : A plea has been moved in the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the Delhi government and the Centre to start the COVID-19 vaccination process for the lawyers and members of the Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) and their notified staff.
The petition was filed by advocate Manashwy Jha who has sought to treat the lawyers as "frontline workers" and to complete the first round of vaccination before March 15, 2021.
He also urged the Court to defer the implementation of notification relating to the opening of a physical hearing till the lawyers are not vaccinated against coronavirus.
Jha also submitted that the advocates and their staff after the complete opening of physical courts would be prone to the infection and with no vaccination for them at the moment, there is a high probability that a large number of lawyers may be infected.
He also submitted that the same would affect the smooth functioning of the courts and would rather affect the disposal of the cases.
"There is no doubt since November 2020 and to date, the COVID-19 cases have dropped remarkably and at present only around 150 cases per day are being reported in Delhi but the danger of COVID-19 is still far from over," he further said.
"Though on one hand, the cases in Delhi have reduced considerably but on the other hand the COVID cases in Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana and Kerala are rising and the first wave of the COVID cases is unabated. There was an increase in 31 per cent more COVID cases in India compared to the last week," the lawyer added.
According to the petition, the infection may be transmitted to the advocates and their office staff through client meetings, exchange of papers and files, photocopy and scanning machines.
