No fundamental right to seek removal of Prime Minister's photo from COVID vaccine certificate: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court recently held that citizens cannot claim any fundamental to right to ask the government to remove Prime Minister Narendra Modi's photograph from Covid-19 vaccination certificates..A Division Bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly was considering an appeal against a single-judge's order which had dismissed a Public Interest Litigation seeking removal of the Prime Minister's photograph from the certificates issued for paid vaccinations on the ground that the same violates the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution..However, the Court disagreed with this contention and dismissed the appeal as it opined that the claim of the petitioner would not be protected by his fundamental rights."However, a citizen is not entitled as of right to ask the Government of India to remove the inscriptions and photograph of the Prime Minister from the Certificate exercising rights under the said article, because according to us such a claim is never a fundamental right envisaged thereunder. This is for the basic reason that such a course is adopted by the Government of India with the intention of gathering attention of the citizens, and motivating and inspiring the people to co operate with the Government, and thereby to ensure that maximum number of citizens take the vaccine in order to avoid fatality," the Court held..It further opined that the Government is vested with powers under Article 73 to issue executive orders in the matter of administration of the nation for the common good by adopting and envisaging appropriate policies to meet with the necessities of time. "An elected Government functioning in a democratic set up has got its own operational freedom to discharge its functions without seriously affecting and rupturing the fundamental rights guaranteed to the citizens of the country," the Court held. .Another contention raised by the appellant which the Court discarded was that the national campaign against Covid-19 was being used as a media campaign for the PM "We do not think that the Prime Minister of India requires any more advertisement than occupying the office of the Prime Minister of India and thereby making his presence in several hundreds of platforms within the country and abroad. That said, it is a fallacious contention that the attempt is to attract the electorate, because the vaccination certificate is downloaded by the individual and kept with him for his personal purposes, and thinking so it would not fetch any larger publicity, than confining to the particular individual," the Court said in its judgement..The Court emphasised that the photograph or message contained in the certificates seem to be have been made with the intention of drawing the attention of the citizens at large, so as to motivate them to come forward to take the vaccine. Such an action was the need of the hour when the world started battling the pandemic, the Court said. .Moreover, the Court concurred with the single-judge that once an elected body comes to power in the parliament, with the mandate of the voters, it is entitled as of right, to carry on with administration of the nation by making policies that are suitable, convenient and adaptable to the nation, bearing in mind the larger public interest. "It is not the fundamental right of an individual that concerns the Government of India, but the fundamental rights enjoyed by the larger public, is the concern in a situation like the instant COVID 19 Pandemic. An individual right on the basis of the guaranteed fundamental right under Part III of the Constitution of India is subservient to the larger public interest when any volatile situation has engulfed the nation and the entire world," the judgement stated..The Court, therefore, dismissed the appeal against the single-judge Bench decision. However, in view of the financial constraints thrown up by the pandemic, the Division Bench reduced the costs imposed by the single-judge from ₹1 lakh to ₹25,000 with a caution to the appellant that in the future he should not venture into filing unwanted and frivolous petitions and waste the valuable time of the court..[Read Judgement]