A Lawyer has moved the Delhi High Court seeking thorough information in terms of procurement, funding and purchase of COVID-19 vaccines by the Centre under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
Advocate Prashant Reddy T., who has famously authored books on Intellectual Property has filed a total of three petitions before the High Court.
Out of the three, the first is against the CIC's (Central Information Commission) 10th Oct 2022 order wherein the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was allowed to withhold disclosure of the purchase orders for COVID-19 vaccines.
The second is with request to direct ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) to provide a copy of collaboration agreement entered with Bharat Biotech and a breakup of costs and investments relating to COVAXIN.
In the third, direction has been sought to Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) to provide a copy of funding agreements entered with Gennova and Bharat Biotech as well as the total amount of funds that have been disbursed so far.
All the above information was previously protected under purview of exemption under Sections 8(1)(a) and 8(1)(d) of the RTI Act. The CIC in the impugned order has approved of the arguement.
The single-judge bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh has marked the case as 'important' and listed the same for hearing on 9th January 2023.
The Court however, hasn't issued Notices in the petitions and posted the same for hearing post winter-break.
Picture Source :