On December 5, the Supreme Court's division bench, comprised of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha, directed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to investigate the lack of uniformity in cadaveric organ transplant rules across states with the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules, 2014. The directive was issued in response to a petition seeking appropriate directions to state governments for regulation and monitoring of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994, as well as bringing homogeneity in rules throughout various states in accordance with the Central Rules of 2014. CJI Chandrachud, while reading out the order, remarked–

"We're not dismissing your petition. We'll issue notice to union health and family welfare ministry. It's actually their responsibility...The grievance of the petitioner is that requirement of obtaining a domicile certificate for registering organ transplant has been imposed by states. The matter shall be examined by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The policy decision shall be taken on the appropriate cause of action to be adopted expeditiously. The petition is accordingly disposed."

According to the petition, the imposition of the mandate of producing a domicile certificate for the purpose of registering an organ recipient in the State registry in the case of cadaveric organ transplant was arbitrary and in violation of the central Act or the Rules made there under. The petition contended that, in the absence of uniformity and clarity in laws regarding residency requirements, state governments imposed procedural roadblocks of a domicile certificate requiring 10-15 years of stay in a specific state, which had no legal basis. This, in turn, was dangerous for people who needed organ transplants and could lead to organ waste. The petition also claimed that there was little clarity on the jurisdiction of the Authorization Committee, which was supposed to issue a NOC in cases where the donor and recipient were from different states. According to the petition, OCI patients were treated on par with NRIs and had to obtain a NOC from the High Commission of the country whose citizenship they held in order to register as a recipient of cadaveric organ transplant, and even then, they were at the bottom of the priority list.

Case Title: Gift of Life Adventure Foundation v. UoI And Ors. 
Citation: W.P.(C) No. 001096 - 001095 / 2022