Surrogacy bill to come before Rajya Sabha in coming session, SC told

The government on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019, will be placed before the Rajya Sabha in the ensuing Monsoon Session.

A bench comprising Justices N.V. Ramana, Surya Kant and Hrishikesh Roy said: "At the commencement of hearing, the Additional Solicitor General, appearing on behalf of the Union of India, submits that the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019 is going to be placed before the Rajya Sabha in the ensuing Monsoon Session. Additional Solicitor General, accordingly, prays for an adjournment of eight weeks."

After a brief hearing on the matter, the bench posted the matter for further hearing after eight weeks.

The Centre shared this information with the top court during the hearing of an appeal, which is connected with the issue of citizenship of a child born in India, where the biological parents are foreign nationals, but the woman who gave birth is an Indian.

The Lok Sabha had last year passed the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019, which places an absolute prohibition on commercial surrogacy and according to it, the intending couple for surrogacy should be Indian citizens.

The appeal has arisen from a 2009 Gujarat High Court verdict, which held that babies born in India to the gestational surrogate are Indian citizens and entitled to passports. The Centre has challenged this verdict in the apex court.

The High Court judgment verdict was in connection with the twin babies born to an Indian surrogate mother in Gujarat's Anand district and a German father in 2008. German national Jan Balaz is the father of two boys, Balaz Nikolas and Balaz Leonard.

--IANS

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