A bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Augustine George Masih noted that a matter related to the Surrogacy Act is already pending in the top court.
The Supreme Court on Friday sought the response of the Centre on a petition challenging the bar under the Surrogacy Act that prevents married couples who already have a child from having a second child through surrogacy.
Issuing notice on a petition filed by a married couple, a bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Augustine George Masih noted that a matter related to the Surrogacy Act is already pending in the top court in a petition filed by IVF specialist Arun Muthuvel in which the amendments to the law barring single unmarried woman and homosexual couples are under challenge. The bench directed the matter to be heard on May 3.
Advocate Mohini Priya, who filed the latest petition, told the court that it challenges the constitutional validity of Section 4(iii)(C)(ii) of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, which makes an intending couple ineligible to avail of surrogacy if they have any healthy surviving child biologically or through adoption or surrogacy, thus excluding married couples suffering from secondary infertility.
“The choice of reproduction has been held to be a part of the right to life under Article 21 by the Supreme Court, and the said choices also fall within the right to privacy and that the Act severely regulates these rights, so much so, that the fundamental rights under Articles 14 and 21 stand defeated,” the petition said.