A Delhi High Court judge on Wednesday ruled that the “surrogacy industry” should not be encouraged in India, where if left unchecked, it could grow into a billion dollar industry. In response to a petition filed by an Indian couple living in Canada challenging the Centre’s March 14 notification amending the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act to ban donor surrogacy by altering Form 2 in accordance with Rule 7 of the Surrogacy Rules, 2022, the court made the observation.
Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Mini Pushkarna said the courts changed surrogacy rules on their own initiative.
What is the point of getting involved in all this now? You are based in Canada. You cannot run a business here. Surrogacy will become a billion dollar industry. There is no point in asking the government to do anything in this case,” said the bench.
The matter will be heard on January 15, 2024, when similar petitions will also be heard.Santosh Kumar Tripathi represented the Delhi government.
They claim to be Indian nationals who got legally married according to Hindu rites and ceremonies, and are permanent residents of the country.
As a childless couple with a medical condition that required gestational surrogacy, they intend to become parents through gestational surrogacy.
Surrogacy with oocyte donation was requested by the couple, where embryos were to be transferred into the uterus of the surrogate mother from donor oocytes and husband’s sperm.
A certificate of medical indication for surrogacy with donor oocyte was granted to the couple in December 2022, allowing them to undergo a surrogacy procedure as an advanced treatment for infertility.
In March 2023, the Centre issued a notification amending the surrogacy regulations and banning donor surrogacy.
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