‘Can’t Centre use RBI dividend for free vaccination’A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday asked the Centre why it cannot use the surplus dividend it got from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for administering COVID vaccines free of cost to people, especially to the poor. The Bench also asked the Centre what was the rationale behind its stance that the State should administer the vaccines free of cost to the people in the age group of 18 to 44 on its own, especially when the Centre did not supply the vaccines for this group free of cost. The court asked the Centre why could not it utilise the surplus dividend of ₹53,510 crore received from the RBI for administering free vaccines, at least for the poor. The court also asked the Centre to inform when it could supply the COVID vaccines ordered by the State government. A total of 1.41 crore doses were required to complete the first dose to the group and another 1.5 crore doses for the second dose.

Source: The Hindu May 24, 2021 15:06 UTC