KOCHI: A Kerala State Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) employee who chose not to get vaccinated for Covid approached the High Court on Thursday seeking to set aside the mandate on vaccination certificate or RT-PCR negative results to visit shops and other establishments in the state.
Justice P B Suresh Kumar will consider the case on Friday. Advocate Ajit Joy, the petitioner’s counsel, submitted that the employee had already taken three RT-PCR tests to attend duty and it was extremely difficult to continue taking tests as each costs over Rs 500.
“Taking Covid vaccination is voluntary. There are several people who have decided not to get vaccinated. The state ought to do more to educate people about the vaccine and dispel doubts as to its efficacy before attempting stringent prohibition as envisaged in the order,” argued the petitioner.
The KTDC employee submitted that he had been going about his daily life since pandemic outbreak, following all the instructions issued from time to time by the government.
He said he had been wearing a mask diligently, observed social distancing, followed lockdown restrictions and took adequate precautions, including sticking to the ‘stay at home’ norm. He said he had not caught the infection yet.
The staffer submitted that the August 4 decision restricting the movement of unvaccinated people has affected him seriously and the order violated Article 21 of the Constitution.
The government submitted that 68 per cent of people – two out of every Keralite – had received the first dose. Such a petition could not be entertained when the state’s test positivity rate is nearly 20% and over 30,000 Covid cases are being reported per day.
‘You are violating the govt order’
When the counsel for KTDC submitted that the corporation had never prevented the petitioner from working at the office, the court said, “You are violating the government order. How did you permit him to work without a negative RT-PCR certificate?”