Chennai, Apr 19 (PTI): The Madras High Court on Monday directed the Tamil Nadu government to establish special counters exclusively for the disabled at all the vaccination centres in the State.

Immediate steps shall be taken by the state to ensure the special counters are disabled-friendly, the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said.

The bench was disposing of a PIL from Meenakashi Balasubramanian, co-founder of Equals Center for Promotion of Social Justice.

The petition prayed for a direction to the Union Health Ministry and the state unit to include persons with disability and their caregivers as a priority group for administering Covid-19 vaccines.

Earlier, the government told the bench that the Union government has not evinced any interest in giving priority to the differently abled and did not respond to its plea.

Priority would be given to the disabled, if the court passes an order to this effect, it said, adding the special counters will be provided exclusively to the disabled at all the Covid-19 vaccination centers in the state.

Recording the submissions, the bench gave the direction and disposed of the PIL.

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