Central Government Policy Of Paid Vaccination For 18-44 Years Prima Facie Arbitrary & Irrational: Supreme Court Admin Thu, Jun 03, 2021, at ,01:21 PM Supreme courts not to be silent spectators when constitutional rights of citizens are infringed by Executive policies”, the Supreme Court said that the Centre’s policy of arranging free Covid-19 vaccine jabs for the 45-plus age category, Health Care Workers (HCW) and Front Line Workers (FLW) while asking the 18-44 age group to pay for the vaccination by state and Union territory governments and private hospitals was “prima facie arbitrary and irrational”.The bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud, L Nageswara Rao, and S Ravindra Bhat to the central government in the suo motu matter of Covid-19 management sought detailed information in the form of an affidavit in two weeks. The Centre was asked to clarify how the ₹ 35,000-crore budget for vaccine procurement is being spent. "If ₹ 35,000 crores have been allocated for the vaccine, why it cannot be used for vaccinating the 18-44 age group," the judges have questioned, asking the Centre to produce the entire data on its vaccine purchase history to date. The court has called for dates of procurement orders of all vaccines -- Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V, the number of doses ordered, and the projected date of supply