COVID-19: PIL in Bombay HC seeks uniform policy from Centre on booster dose

Two lawyers on Monday sought an urgent hearing before the Bombay High Court on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions to the Union government to formulate a uniform policy for administering booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

Mumbai-based lawyers Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari mentioned the PIL before a bench led by Justice Amjad Sayed and sought an urgent hearing. The bench, however, directed them to mention their plea for hearing before the bench led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta, which is likely to assemble next week.

In their PIL, Kapadia and Tiwari have said a third wave of COVID-19 was likely to spread across the country and, thus, there was an urgent need to have booster doses administered to citizens at the earliest.

However, the Union and Maharashtra governments and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation have not come up with any policy on this as yet, the PIL stated.

''Experts must roll out a policy covering every section of the people who have taken their second dose long back in March to May 2021 and are due for a booster,'' the petition said.