The Court was seized of a petition filed by Bharti Airtel through its officials seeking to quash the summons and other proceedings pending before a Judicial Magistrate in Udumalpet.
The proceedings were initiated on a private complaint lodged by one Kamatci Shankar Arumugam, an employee of the company, who claimed that his privacy was invaded by the company and its officials by the unauthorised circulation of his personal data among other employees.
The Court noted that the data in question was a list of employees of Bharti Airtel who were not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Those employees unwilling to be vaccinated were asked by the company not to come to the office to avoid the spread of the virus.
The Magistrate took cognizance of the complaint and issued summons to the company officials in February 2022.
In his order, Justice Venkatesh noted that the Supreme Court has, in Jacob Puliyel vs Union of India, already held that no one can be forced to vaccinate himself or herself.
“No one can be forced to be vaccinated since such a compulsion will result in infringement of bodily integrity and personal autonomy of an individual. A person cannot be compelled to vaccinate himself. However, an organisation must necessarily take into consideration the welfare of majority of its employees and therefore, a person, who does not vaccinate and follow the COVID-19 Safety Protocol, cannot be allowed to have access to others in a public sphere, as, between the rights of an individual and a larger group of persons, it is the right of the larger group of persons, which will take predominance,” the Court added.
Source: Barandbench
