Bombay HC junks PIL on organ transplant sans cop nod

The Bombay high court on Monday disposed of a public interest litigation (PIL) which sought direction to state authorities for framing fresh rules for organ transplants involving close relatives such that the need for police verification prior to surgeries was done away with.

The petitioner, Narmada Kidney Foundation, a NGO, contended that police verification was only to rule out the “commercial element” which was in any case not there in organ transplants involving relatives. The petitioner also sought creation of a centralised database which would be available online to help “swap transplants”. For the uninitiated, swap transplants are an extension of transplants involving relatives where instead of one pair, two pairs of close relatives are involved. The petitioner argued that there was an “urgent need for authorities to form a central database where pairs looking to undergo a ‘swap transplant’ could register in the hope of finding another suitable donor recipients pair”.

A division bench of Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice S.M. Sonak refused to accept the petitioner’s contentions and disposed of the PIL saying, “Why has a NGO come to the court for changing procedure of swapping kidneys What is your locus to file this PIL Let the aggrieved party come to the court”. The court further said that it was aware of how kidneys were being “sold since 1989”.

The petitioner’s lawyer argued that apart from transplants involving close relatives and unrelated persons, swaps were introduced by a 2014 amendment to the Transplantation of Human Organs Act.

Under it, there was a checklist of documents that needed to be sent for permission for transplants. The cumbersome process resulted in loss of time and often, patients did not remain alive to derive the benefits of organ donation. The lawyer further stated that over 140 members were registered with them for “swap transplants”.