The Meghalaya High Court has today directed the State government to deal with Covid vaccine hesitancy on a priority basis.
The division bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Biswanath Somadder and Justice Hamarsan S. Thangkhiew today took up the suo moto public interest litigation (PIL) on the vaccine issue.
“We reiterate our earlier observation and direct the State government to deal with the vaccine hesitation issue on a priority basis – with full earnest – effectively,” the High Court said.
It also asked Advocate General Amit Kumar to apprise the court more specifically on the next date of hearing on August 9 regarding the manner in which the vaccine hesitancy issue is being dealt with by the State government.
The High Court also said that it had categorically observed in its judgment and order passed on June 23 on the issue of vaccine hesitancy and how the same is required to be dealt with by the State government.
“However, from the submissions advanced by the learned Advocate General, it appears that the issue still remains to be addressed effectively. In our judgment and order dated 23rd June, 2021, we had made it clear that this court shall monitor this issue closely so that the State government is able to overcome the vaccine hesitation problem at the earliest and all eligible persons in the State of Meghalaya are vaccinated well within the timeframe as may be specified by the State,” the High Court said.
Further, the High Court also extended the timeline for filing of reports by the Secretaries of all the District Legal Services Authorities in terms of the judgment and order passed by the court on June 23.
