Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the Maharashtra government to consider identifying and segregating those who have taken both doses of Covid-19 vaccine from the rest, and provide a “common card” to fully inoculated people to allow them unrestricted travel and work.

The court said the state government should consider allowing people who have received both doses to travel in local trains and resume normal activities.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G.S. Kulkarni also said the state and the Centre must consider issuing a “common card” that identifies a citizen as fully vaccinated and permits him or her to travel and work unrestrained.

Advocate-general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, who appeared for the Maharashtra government, told the court that a letter from the state disaster management authority would be issued for lawyers and registered judicial clerks, based on which the railways would give them travel passes.

The bench referred to an interview with Maharashtra Covid-19 task force member Dr Shashank Joshi, published in a newspaper on Thursday.

Dr Joshi said one-third of Maharashtra’s population was still susceptible to the coronavirus, and unrestricted local train travel could not be permitted yet as identifying the fully vaccinated was cumbersome.

“If Dr Joshi says it (train travel) can be done subject to identification, it is for the state and the Centre to identify the fully vaccinated (people),” the court said.

“One-third of the population is still susceptible to the virus. Then, this one-third population should be separated from the two-third or from the fully vaccinated. At least provide them with a card identifying them as fully vaccinated.”