NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the Centre’s April 4 notification by which the implementation of certain rules of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex-Selection Rules), 1996 (PCPNDT), were suspended till June 30, 2020 due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown.
The top court observed that there is a national crisis due to COVID-19 and doctors’ services were needed to be conserved for the Pandemic.
A bench of Justices U U Lalit, M M Shantanagoudar and Vineet Saran issued notice to the Centre and also gave liberty to the petitioner to raise the issue again, if the notification is renewed beyond June 30.
The bench said that it won’t be possible for it to interfere with the notification at this stage and posted the matter for further hearing in the month of July.
The plea filed by one Sabu Mathew George has challenged the “illegal and arbitrary” notification issued by the Department of Health and Family Welfare, dated April 4, by which the implementation of the Rule 8, 9(8) and 18 A (6) of the PCPNDT was suspended till June 30.
It said that despite the requirement for maintenance of records being a standard feature of laws regulating medical practices, in the present instance, the PCPNDT Rules have been arbitrarily selected and ‘suspended, under the guise of the lockdown.
“This action, rolls back the gains made by the proper implementation of the Act by this Court, and is arbitrary and unreasonable, aside from being a nullity, and wholly without jurisdiction. Such a power to suspend is not provided in the scheme of the Act,” the plea said.
It said that this notification is entirely without jurisdiction and a nullity, as the PCPNDT Act, does not give any powers for the suspension of the Rules made thereunder.
“The action of the Central Government in suspending certain Rules under the PCPNDT Act, 1994, despite not having the power to do so, violates Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution, as (in addition to being without jurisdiction) the Central Government has arbitrarily and selectively weakened a legislation aimed at curbing the pernicious activity of sex-selection and sex-determination,” it said.
The plea said that the number of girls missing at birth due to the practice of gender biased sex selection in India has been estimated at 0.46 million girls per year for the period 2001-12 (which is a total of 5.52 million girl children, missing at birth for the 12-year period), and the PCPNDT Act and the subsequent rules are aimed at remedying this social evil.
“By suspending the Rules, the Central Government has diluted the PCPNDT Act, and this will result in misuse of technology by unscrupulous individuals, who will no longer be deterred by the monitoring mechanism provided in the Rules,” the plea of George said.
It added that this illegal suspension of Rules, while medical establishments continue to function, will provide avenues for misuse of technology for purposes of sex-selection and sex-determination, and will result in a loss of the gains made in the strict implementation of the Act, despite the fact that such strict implementation is a consequence of this Court’s orders.
The plea pointed out that while medical establishments continue to function, they must keep records, submit the same to the appropriate authority, which must in turn submit its quarterly reports under the Rules, as maintenance and submission of records is a part of the functioning of these establishments.
“In consonance with Section 18 and 19 of the Act and Rule 8, the concerned establishments must be duly registered. The suspension of these Rules, in addition to being wholly illegal, will also cause great harm, by derailing the proper implementation of the Act. It is submitted that an act of the Parliament cannot be diluted by virtue of a notification issued by the Central Government” the petition said.
The petition sought quashing of April 4 notification issued by the department of health and family welfare suspending PCPNDT rules till June 30 on the ground that it is illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional. (AGENCIES)
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