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 policymakers must have an ear to the ground.
A special bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud, L N 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 the 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.
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.
The hearing in the matter is continuing.
This news has impressed Indian citizens who are disappointed due to the lagging vaccination system in India. Many took to Twitter to hail the judges especially Justice D Y Chandrachud for asking tough questions to the Centre.
Here's what people are saying. Have a look.
