The Gujarat High Court on Friday advised the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to follow the norm of allowing only fully vaccinated citizens in public places, buildings and utilities.
Rejecting a petition challenging a circular of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), the Court pulled up the petitioners for coming up with a petition that would put six crore Gujaratis at risk. At the same time, it hailed the AMC for its action. Addressing the lawyer for the petitioners, Justice J.B. Pardiwala said, “What kind of people are they (petitioners)? It is unfortunate that your clients have approached the High Court. We don’t want citizens of Gujarat to come up with flimsy petitions in the name of public interest. We expect all citizens to fully cooperate with the civic authorities in managing the Covid pandemic. We should not forget the nightmare people went through at the onset of the pandemic.”
The PIL was filed by Nishant Prajapati, Nilesh Makwana, Jayesh Asari, Piyush Raghvani and Milind Joshi through their lawyer Aum Kotwal. The petitioners challenged the circular issued by the AMC on September 17. The PIL contended that AMC cannot be selective in granting entry to only fully vaccinated persons as vaccination against COVID was not mandatory. The PIL also cited examples of the High Courts of Meghalaya and Guwahati that had struck down similar actions.
The Court appealed to the people to take two doses of Covid vaccine. “It is necessary to get vaccinated, particularly in light of the Omicron threat. In fact, it is time for people to take the third booster dose,” the Court said. The Court also opined that people should not interfere in Covid management by civic authorities, by approaching the High Court.
Gujarat High Court on Friday also asked seven industries to make representations before AMC over action taken against them and compliance of discharge of their effluents. The seven industries had approached the High Court after AMC disconnected their drainage connections and later the Gujarat Pollution Control Board issued them closure notices. The industries has argued that action was taken against them even though they had complied with all norms.
