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Rachana Gangu v. Union of India

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 218Decided 10 Mar 2026
W.P.(C) No.-001220 - 2021
Justice Vikram Nath · Justice Sandeep Mehta

Background

This judgment jointly decided a writ petition filed by parents whose young daughters died shortly after receiving COVID-19 vaccine doses, along with several connected petitions and transfer petitions from the Kerala High Court raising similar grievances from families across the country who lost loved ones after vaccination, including deaths from conditions such as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, thrombocytopenia, and intracranial bleeding. The petitioners sought an independent expert medical board to investigate such deaths, protocols for detecting and treating adverse events following immunization (AEFI), and compensation for the affected families. The Union of India had also challenged an interim Kerala High Court order that had directed it to formulate a compensation policy.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court disposed of the writ petition and all connected matters by directing the Union of India, through the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to expeditiously formulate and publicly place a "no-fault" compensation framework for serious adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination, meaning families would not need to prove the government's fault to claim compensation. The Court held that while policy-making is ordinarily within the executive's domain, the absence of any structured relief mechanism for vaccine-injury victims left their fundamental rights without meaningful enforcement, and the judiciary's constitutional duty to protect such rights could not be eclipsed by separation-of-powers concerns. However, the Court declined to set up a separate court-appointed expert body to investigate individual death cases, finding the existing National and State AEFI Committees adequate for that scientific task, and clarified that its direction to frame a no-fault policy was not an admission of liability by the government.

Lesson Learnt

Where the State runs a mass public health programme like vaccination, it has a constitutional obligation to provide an accessible, no-fault compensation mechanism for those who suffer serious harm as a result: citizens are not left to prove fault or fend for themselves, though this ruling does not itself decide any individual's claim and leaves other legal remedies open.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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