Pune's Symbiosis University is going to reinstate the unvaccinated employee they had asked to go on unpaid leave for not taking the COVID vaccine, the University told the Bombay High Court.
On Wednesday, the employee filed a petition in the Bombay High Court against the University calling their move unconstitutional.
The University has now said that it will review their policy asking unvaccinated employees to go on unpaid leave till they are fully vaccinated. According to the Indian government, COVID vaccination is voluntary and not mandatory.
This is not the first such appeal that has reached the judiciary in the country. Earlier, the Bombay High Court asked the Maharashtra government to do away with the rule allowing only those passengers who showed their vaccination certificate to travel in the Mumbai local.
On May 2, even the Supreme Court upheld people's rights to refuse the COVID vaccine, but even gave the Centre and States rights to impose restrictions which were the need of the hour.
What Happened At Symbiosis?
The petitioner, Subrata Mazumdar (47), supervisor at the Pune based University claims to be a believer of homeopathic medicine rather than allopathic medicine and chose to not take the COVID-19 vaccine.
In the plea, Mazumdar claimed that in May 2021, Vidya Yeravdekar, the Symbiosis society's principal director, sent an email requesting the staff to get vaccinated and comply with all the necessary COVID-19 requirements. As a response to the email, the supervisor said that he told the director that he was unable to get vaccinated owing to personal health reasons.
To further drive their message home, in January 2022, the staff received an email from the HR of the institute asking all those who were not vaccinated to head out for an unpaid vacation. They were also asked to inform their University after they were fully vaccinated.
Along with Yeravdekar, Mazumdar has also named Bhama Venkatramani, the dean of administration and academics in the petition. He has said that the University's move is unconstitutional and illegal and infringes upon his fundamental rights under the constitution's articles 14 (right to equality) and 21 (right to life and personal liberty protection).
Furthermore, Mazumdar has defended his actions by stating that none of the members of his family were infected inspite of being unvaccinated but several of his vaccinated colleagues were still infected by SARS-CoV-2.
