Supreme Court refuses to interfere with Karnataka vaccine mandate to attend colleges

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with a vaccine mandate of the Karnataka government for attending the colleges saying in the “wider national interest there are some matters which we should not be entertaining”. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant dismissed the plea challenging the Karnataka High Court order upholding the state government’s July 16, 2021 notification which said that students’ teachers and non-teaching staff who have received one dose of vaccine can attend the colleges.

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The bench said, “We will not entertain this. Take your vaccines. In the wider national interest there are some matters which we should not be entertaining”. It told advocate Anas Tanvir, appearing for petitioner Sushma S Aradhya, that the High Court order was passed on December 4, 2021, and what was the difficulty in getting vaccinated.

The advocate said that his belief is in Ayurvedic and not allopathic and he wears a mask and observes all the COVID appropriate behaviour. “There cannot be a vaccine mandate for attending the college”, he said. The bench told the counsel, “Sorry, we will not entertain this. Take your vaccination”.