The Delhi High Court has rejected a man's request for a no objection certificate from his separated wife to have a child through surrogacy.

The 54-year-old man argued that due to his increasing age and the anticipated lengthy duration of the divorce proceedings, he had no alternative but to opt for surrogacy in order to preserve his genetic lineage.

He also criticized a family courts decision that declined to instruct his estranged wife to provide the necessary consent for a surrogate mother.

A panel led by Justice Suresh Kumar Kait  and Justice Neena Bansal Krishna remarked that it was challenging to understand the husband's motivation to pursue surrogacy while the marriage was still ongoing, as it could result in unnecessary complications for both the couple and the potential child.

The court noted that The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, lays out a thorough procedure to be adhered to when someone intends to have a child through surrogacy. In the current case, the woman's refusal to grant the husband's request was deemed appropriate under the provisions of this act.

According to the law, the child is required to be given to a "prospective couple," which is specifically defined as an "Indian man and woman who are legally married and are respectively above the ages of 21 and 18 years."

The appeal, in which the appellant attempted to acquire a child through surrogacy without adhering to the procedures outlined in the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act of 2021, had been deemed without merit and subsequently rejected by the bench.

The court also ruled that the divorce petition was only filed in 2022, and the claim made by the petitioner that he is now 54 years old and that the divorce proceedings may take a long time is not reasonable. Therefore, the court has suggested that he should request an expedited resolution of his divorce petition.