The Delhi High Court on Friday issued a notice to the Union government on a petition challenging some provisions of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act and the Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, PTI reported.
Petitioners Karan Balraj Mehta and Pankhuri Chandra said that laws discriminated against single men who want to become fathers and a married women who wish to expand their families through surrogacy, Bar and Bench reported.
Currently, the law does not allow single men to have child through surrogacy. Married women can only avail surrogacy services if they are unable to produce a child due to medical conditions. Otherwise, for women to avail of surrogacy services, they must be aged between 35 and 45 and widowed or divorced.
Women can only offer surrogacy if they are aged between 25 and 35 and married with at least one biological child. The laws also require a surrogate to be genetically related to the couple who intend to have a child through this method, their petition said.
“The needless conditions of being genetically related, of a particular age, married and already having at least one child only constrict the universe of available candidates who may otherwise become healthy surrogate mothers,” the petition stated.
The petitioners contended that several provisions of the two laws violate Article 14 (equality before law) and Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty) of the Constitution.
A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Sachin Datta on Friday asked the Centre to file an affidavit within six weeks. The court will hear the matter next on November 29.
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