German twins' father makes desperate plea
27 Feb 2010, 1528 hrs IST
Time has almost run out for Jan Balaz to get his surrogate twin son Leonard and Nikolas Balaz back with him to Germany, with Balaz's visa expiring in a matter of days. Speaking to your channel Balaz says he's been told that he will not receive an extension.
Meanwhile, apparently unconcerned and notwithstanding the tense visa situation, the Indian judicial system continues to plod along at its usual pace, with the next hearing scheduled in the Supreme Court on March 16. Aggravating the situation is the snail's pace of Indian bureaucracy - although admittedly there is no legal guideline on the subject of citizenship (by birth) of surrogate children, the executive has been unwilling to resolve the matter of the twins by making a one-time exception on humanitarian grounds as it is reluctant to set a precedent.
The children were born in 2008 to a surrogate mother in Gujarat, but biologically descended from German parents. The Ministry of External Affairs, through the Regional Passport Office, initially granted a passport to the twins under the 'tatkal' scheme but later issued a notice withdrawing the passports.