KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the central and state governments to file a counter affidavit in response to a plea seeking removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's photograph from the COVID-19 vaccination certificate.
Justice N Nagaresh issued the directive while admitting the petition filed by Peter Mayaliparambil, Kottayam, against depicting PMs photo in the certificate.
The court also issued notice to the centre and state governments.
The court had earlier observed that the plea for removing the photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the COVID vaccination certificate is a very dangerous proposition.
The petition stated that a photograph of the Prime Minister on the Covid-19 vaccination certificate serves no utility. It is a certificate issued merely to confirm the status of vaccination of a person.
The photograph of the Prime Minister has no relevance in such a certificate as can be seen from such certificates issued by other countries.
Any additional messaging or motivation in a certificate is irrelevant as the recipient of the certificate is already convinced of its utility and has taken the vaccination voluntarily. The petitioner has paid for his vaccination. Hence, the state has no right to claim the credit by inserting a photograph of the Prime Minister in the certificate issued to a paid vaccine recipient, state the petitioner.