Mumbai Feb 21 PTI The Bombay High Court on Monday asked the Maharashtra government if it was willing to withdraw its notification issued last year prohibiting people not vaccinated against COVID-19 from travelling in local trains in the city Let bygones be bygones Let there be a new beginning Chief Justice Dipankar Datta said adding that Chief Secretary Debashish Chakraborty must inform the court on Tuesday if the state government will withdraw its decision to permit only fully vaccinated people to travel in the suburban trains A bench of Chief Justice Datta and Justice M S Karnik was hearing two public interest litigations seeking that all people in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region MMR be allowed to travel in local trains irrespective of their vaccination status The PILs challenged three notifications issued by the Maharashtra government in July and August last year that prohibited unvaccinated people from travelling in local trains which are considered as the lifeline of Mumbai Niles Ojha the counsel for one of the petitioners had earlier argued in the HC that the prohibition on use of local trains by unvaccinated people was illegal arbitrary and in breach of the citizens fundamental right to move freely across the country as guaranteed by Article 19 1 d of the Constitution He had argued that the governments move discriminated between the vaccinated and unvaccinated people though neither the Centre nor the Maharashtra government had made vaccination mandatory On the previous hearings the HC asked for the state files on the three notifications under challenge and realised that the decision to prohibit unvaccinated people from travelling in local trains had been taken unilaterally by the then chief secretary Sitaram Kunte The high court on Monday said Chief Secretary has to withdraw order the notification on such prohibition Whatever has been done by his predecessor Kunte is not in accordance with law Withdraw this and allow people Now the COVID-19 situation has improved Maharashtra handled it beautifully Why are you inviting a bad name the court said The state must be sensible and not treat the issue as an adversarial litigation the court said and sought the chief secretarys response by Tuesday afternoon PTI AYA GK GK

Mumbai Dec 22 PTI The Maharashtra government told the Bombay High Court on Wednesday that allowing unvaccinated people to mix with others by using public transport will endanger the lives of others and invite explosive transmission of the coronavirus and its variants The government of Maharashtra as parens patriae guardian of the state cannot afford to take that risk it said an affidavit submitted in the HC The decision to prohibit people who were yet to receive both doses of COVID-19 vaccine from using public transport in the state had been taken to ensure those unvaccinated do not endanger the lives of others it said Allowing unvaccinated persons to mix with other people by using public transport will only endanger the lives of others and will invite explosive transmission of the coronavirus and its subsequent variants the government said in the affidavit filed through its chief secretary The Maharashtra government told a bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice M S Karnik that such a decision was reasonable and not discriminatory or in breach of a citizens fundamental rights The unvaccinated people were prohibited from the use of public transport to ensure they do not mingle with other citizens and add to the spread of the coronavirus it said The state government filed its affidavit in response to two public interest litigations filed by one Firoze Mithiborwala and one Yohan Tengra claiming the states circular prohibiting unvaccinated people from travelling in local trains in Mumbai was without logic and in breach of such citizens right to equality Last week the HC had directed the Maharashtra government to file an affidavit explaining the rationale behind such prohibition On Wednesday the state said unvaccinated people were prohibited from not just the use of local trains but from all modes of public transport in the state The decision had been taken after consultation with experts and members of the states special task force for tackling COVID-19 it said The state government submitted that as on December 20 this year a total of 54 people in the state had been infected with the Omicron varaint of the virus It further said that as per data available till December 20 there were 544 new cases of COVID19 infections and four deaths due to the viral infection Unfortunately the problem is not over yet There is likelihood of a third wave and also the likelihood of spread of the new variant Omicron the affidavit said The government of Maharashtra therefore cannot take any risk and would like to err on the safer side on the issue of public health it added The state also submitted data on the devastating second wave of COVID-19 that hit people earlier this year and how state authorities struggled to ensure adequate medical aid hospital beds and oxygen supply for citizens The government said it did not want a repeat of such dire situation There was adequate research to prove that those who had taken both the doses of vaccine were less likely to contract severe COVID-19 or to require prolonged hospitalisation it said It urged the HC to dismiss the PILs saying such a prohibition on the unvaccinated people was reasonable The state government further said the petitioners themselves had received both the doses of vaccine While taking the vaccine is not mandatory for citizens in the country adequate vaccine doses and slots are now available across the state for those interested in taking the vaccine the state said The HC will hear the matter further on January 3 2022 PTI AYA GK GK

Mumbai Sep 20 PTI The Bombay High Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh functionary Rajesh Kunte seeking that the transcript of Congress leader Rahul Gandhis speech made in 2014 in which he allegedly blamed the RSS for Mahatma Gandhis assassination be admitted as evidence in a criminal defamation case against him Kunte had approached the HC in 2019 challenging an order of the Bhiwandi magistrates court passed in September 2018 which dismissed his request to admit such charge sheet as evidence On Monday a single bench of Bombay HC presided over by Justice Revati Mohite Dere dismissed Kuntes plea Gandhi is facing trial in a criminal defamation case following an FIR filed against him by Kunte in 2014 after the said speech As per Kuntes plea on March 6 2014 Gandhi made a speech in Bhiwandi during an election rally where he allegedly said that RSS people had killed Mahatma Gandhi Soon after Kunte who is the secretary of Bhiwandi unit of the RSS lodged an FIR against Rahul Gandhi The Congress leader subsequently said he had been quoted out of context In December 2014 Rahul Gandhi moved the Bombay High Court challenging the defamation proceedings initiated against him He had at that time submitted a transcript of the said speech in the HC In his plea in the HC Rahul Gandhi said among other things that the BJP and RSS were essentially the same and while he had meant to speak about the BJPs position on Mahatma Gandhis assassination he had said RSS instead He had further said that the imputation made against the RSS was true and therefore constituted a ground for his defence to the defamation proceedings His plea was dismissed by the HC in 2015 Kunte said in his plea before the HC that Rahul Gandhi had nowhere denied having made the speech and merely explained the circumstances surrounding his speech as his defence He further said by filing the petition in the HC and listing the above mentioned grounds Rahul Gandhi had in a way verified the transcript of such speech The transcript therefore had been proved Kunte said Reading of the writ petition Gandhis shows that it squarely relies on the transcript of the speech and in fact substantiates the same transcript to be genuine Kunte said in his plea in the HC Thus he had urged the HC to permit the use of the transcript as evidence in the defamation proceedings pending before the Bhiwandi court and quash the magistrate courts order denying him such relief in 2018 PTI AYA GK GK