Delhi High Court directs school to allow unvaccinated teacher to resume duties

The Delhi High Court on Friday directed a private school to allow an unvaccinated teacher to resume duties after a member board constituted by AIIMS, New Delhi said that he was at a higher risk of developing an allergic reaction to the Covid-19 vaccine [RS Bhargava v Govt. of NCT of Delhi]..Justice Rekha Palli directed the private school to allow the petitioner teacher to join his duties and release his salary with a 10 per cent deduction for the period, starting from November 2021, when he was not allowed to perform his duties."The respondent no.4 is further directed to release the balance salary along with all allowances payable to him after deducting 10% from the salary payable for the period between 02.11.2021 till the date of his re-joining duty. The said amount will be paid within a period of six weeks from today", the order read..The Court took into account that pursuant to the report furnished by the board at AIIMS, the respondents had acceded to the teacher's request with a condition that he would observe Covid-19 appropriate behaviour and guidelines.Justice Palli also appreciated the teacher's stand voluntarily agreeing to forego the ten per cent deducted while taking into account the fact that the school was not at fault and it was just trying its best to resolve the matter without compromising the interest of either the students or the petitioner.The petitioner's case was that he is suffering from Angioimmunoblastic T-cell Lymphoma (AITCL) and on account of this medical condition, he was consistently advised by doctors that his condition may deteriorate further if he takes the Covid-19 vaccine.The reason for this was that he had, in the past, suffered serious allergic reactions from various drugs and medications. However, on account of the various orders passed by the State government and the District Disaster Management Authority making it mandatory for all teachers to be fully vaccinated, he was not allowed to discharge his duties on account of his inability to take the vaccine..It was submitted by the petitioner that even though he was earlier granted an exemption by the State from taking any the Covid-19 vaccine, the exemption was unilaterally withdrawn shortly after. Consequently, the petitioner was not allowed to even take online classes, which he was willing to always take.In March this year, the High Court had taken into account the petitioner's plea and directed the school to pay half his salary with effect from February, 2022.On a the medical board endorsing its earlier opinion reiterating the risks faced by the petitioner, the court agreed to the petitioners request for resumption of duties. .Advocates Tishampati Sen, Ridhhi Sancheti, G. Karthikeyan and Anurag Anand appeared for the teacher while the respondents were represented by Senior Advocate Puneet Mittal Advocates Rupendra Pratap Singh, Avnish Ahlawat, NK Singh, Anurag Ahluwalia, and Danish Faraz Khan..[Read order]