[COVID] Are restrictions on unvaccinated necessary now? Bombay High Court to Maharashtra

The Bombay High Court on Monday asked the Maharashtra government to explain why COVID-19 restrictions are continuing in the State [Feroze Mithiborwala v. State of Maharashtra & Ors.].A Bench of Chief Justice (CJ) Dipankar Datta and Justice MS Karnik pondered over the necessity of continuing with restrictions given the improved pandemic situation in the State "Does your affidavit say what was the position in the State, what the situation was about 6 months ago and what is the present situation. Whether the situation requires same measures that were required 6 months ago?" CJ Datta asked. .The Bench was hearing a new PIL questioning the validity of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the State government on March 1 continuing the restrictions against citizens who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 from travelling in public transport and accessing public places.Advocate Nilesh Ojha submitted that through the order, State was making vaccination compulsory to avail benefits and facilities and people were being compelled to take vaccines to avail those benefits. The plea filed through advocate Abhishek Mishra also raised grievances against making masks mandatory.However, the Court asked the counsel to restrict his submissions to one issue at a time. "We are now concerned with travel in railways. Other points are there, but unvaccinated people to travel in trains was the main concern in the earlier petition too," the Bench said..Before adjourning the matter after a short hearing today, the Bench also asked both parties to make submissions on the queries by the Court.The Bench asked whether the State is entitled to bar someone from travelling in trains especially when the subject of railways fell under the Centre's jurisdiction. "Could the State invoke the provisions of the Disaster Management Act and bar persons from availing railway services which fall within the Union list of the Constitution," the Court queried.The hearing in the matter will continue on Tuesday. .Meanwhile the affidavit filed by Maharashtra government stated that the conspicuously low rate of hospitalisation and fatality in the third wave compared to the earlier waves was attributable to the massive vaccination measures undertaken by the Centre and State governments."The restrictions were imposed in public interest based on the ever changing situation of the pandemic," the affidavit said.The affidavit relied upon expert advice which stated that an unvaccinated person was more at risk than a vaccinated person and more prone to spread the infection. "Considering the peculiar pattern of travel in suburban local trains in Mumbai, where the number of passengers in each coach is more than three to five times its maximum capacity, there is no possibility to maintain physical distancing. Any unvaccinated person who is infected but is asymptomatic or, unaware, is likely to spread the infection to a huge number of his co-passengers This would create an explosion in transmission of coronavirus making it virtually important to continue its spread," the affidavit said.