The Bombay High Court on Friday questioned Maharashtra government's hesitance in implementing an amendment in the Human Organ Transplant Act relating to removal of cornea with consent from relatives at the time of postmortem.
The Central government had recently amended the Act stating that a trained technician can remove cornea from bodies which have come for postmortem after taking consent of relatives and there was no need for a medical practitioner.
The amendment also made it mandatory for all hospitals to request the relatives of the deceased for eye donations.
However, the state government has not implemented the amendment yet saying they have still not received the notification from the Centre about the amendment.
"Unless we receive the notification from the Centre, we cannot implement it," said additional government pleader Niranjan Pandit.
A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice R V More, questioning the attitude of the government, said, "It is not necessary for state of Maharashtra to wait for notification. Are you having any objection to amendments? If you are having objections we can understand the hesitation."