"Article 1 Says Bharat Shall Be A Union Of States": Supreme Court To Centre -Read Full Courtroom Exchange In Suo Motu Covid Case

The Supreme Court on Monday posed tough questions to the Central Government about the rationale of its dual pricing and procurement policy of the COVID vaccines, its diversion from the National Immunisation Programme and its mandate of COWIN App registrationThe three-judge bench of Justices D. Y. Chandrachud, L. Nageswara Rao and Ravindra Bhat was hearing the suo moto case on COVID issues (In Re Distribution of Essential Services and Supplies During Pandemic) on May 31.At the outset, SG Tushar Mehta advanced that on the vaccination front, there is some development and that he will place on record the facts on affidavit- "As per our estimate, from the domestic market which is the Indian market, we expect the entire eligible population to get vaccinated by the end of this year. The central government is also in an active discussion with Pfizer etc. The Minister for External Affairs and even the Prime Minister are interacting on a diplomatic level. Since nothing has been finalised, it will be premature for me to say anything. But the government has been really really positive about it. The discussion is at a very, very advanced age. Subject to any intervening circumstances, we might be able to get it. If that happens, the timeline will be even shorter"."We need something like 226 crore doses of vaccine because it is a double dose. You will need to make it available to the nation as a whole. But the only thing we would like to express is the dual pricing policy and the dual procurement. We are trying to understand why you are asking states to fight to pick up the vaccine against each other", posed Justice Bhat."In my earlier affidavit, which I will further elaborate in my next affidavit, we have given the rationale. And it is wrong to say that the states are competing with each other. There is no competition. Some states pay more and get more and some states pay less and get less- that is not the situation", replied the SG.[Dual procurement] 'Do you perceive your role in such manner that as the government of India, you must procure all vaccines for the entire country?'- SCJustice Chandrachud expressed that the concern is what is the basis for the central government to say that for the 45 and above age group, the central government will procure vaccines which will be supplied free of charge but for the population below 45, the state governments will have their own logistical arrangements with the manufacturers, and the remaining 50% of the procurement will be done by the private hospital. The judge elaborated that two concerns arise here: Firstly, while the Centre has claimed that the mortality in the post-45 age group is higher than the pre-45 group, in the second wave of the pandemic, it was not merely the post-45 which have been seriously affected but the pre-45 population also which suffered a great deal. "If the purpose is to procure vaccines, why should the central government confine itself only to the post-45 and leave the pre-45 entirely to the states to arrange? For the pre 45, Goa has to make its own arrangement, Kerala and Uttarakhand have to make their own arrangements. But for post 45, you are making the arrangement. How do you justify this?", asked the judge."Different municipal corporations in the different states are issuing global tenders. The Punjab government has done that. We also know Delhi tried to do that. Is it the policy of the government of India that every municipal corporation in the country and every state have its own device to issue the tender to procure vaccines from foreign suppliers? Look at the capacity of the Bombay Municipal Corporation, which has a budget of more than even some of the Indian states! Can the municipal corporations in West Bengal, UP or Tamil Nadu, which may not have the same kind of budget, compete with it? Does the Union of India contemplate that for the procurement of vaccines, there will be individual states or corporations receiving bids or will you be the nodal agency to obtain these bids and vaccines at one price? This is very, very critical", pointed out Justice Chandrachud."Actually, the position as on date is that some states and some corporations did float global tenders but all global players like Pfizer etc have their own policy and they will deal with only countries, not with anybody else. So that question whether they can float global tenders is an academic one", the SG told.Not entirely agreeing with the submission, Justice Chandrachud asked, "The BMC has received bids from Sputnik. Are we leaving it to the individual corporations or do you still see yourself as one nation, one country? Do you perceive your role in such manner that as the government of India, we will procure all the vaccines for the entire country and we will distribute. Article 1 of the Constitution says Bharat is a union of states, we are not a federation of states. In a time of national crisis, it is the Union which must procure vaccines for the entirety of the country by...

"Article 1 Says Bharat Shall Be A Union Of States": Supreme Court To Centre -Read Full Courtroom Exchange In Suo Motu Covid Case

Mehal Jain

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