The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition that challenged the Karnataka government's vaccine mandate for colleges and cited "wider national interest" as the reason.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant refused to interfere with the vaccine mandate, saying in the "wider national interest there are some matters which we should not be entertaining".
In July 2021, the Karnataka government had issued a notification saying that students, teachers, and non-teaching staff could only attent colleges after receiving at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. Earlier, the Karnataka High Court had rejected a similar petition.
The Supreme Court on Monday said, “We will not entertain this. Take your vaccines. In the wider national interest there are some matters which we should not be entertaining”.
The petitioner said before the apex court that his belief is in Ayurved and not allopathy — the coronavirus vaccine is not Ayurvedic — and he wears a mask and observes Covid-appropriate behaviour. He argued, “There cannot be a vaccine mandate for attending the college,”
Dismissing the plea, the Supreme Court said, “Sorry, we will not entertain this. Take your vaccination”.
With PTI inputs
