N MOHAN PATNAIK Vs. GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Writ Appeals 1272 and 1273 of 1996 were posted for admission and with the agreement of the parties they have been taken up for final hearing along with the batch of Writ Petitions, which have been filed questioning the vires of some of the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1995 (Act No.24 of 1995). The Act was preceded by Ordinance called Andhra Pradesh Transplantation of Human Organs Ordinance, 1995. Since the Act has come into force, any reference to the constitutional vires of the provisions of the Ordinance is no longer necessary.

(2.) Invoking the jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners have alleged that the Act has such provisions which violate Articles 21 and 14 of the Constitution of India and they, for the said reason, are ultra vires to the Constitution of India.

(3.) Before we take up a brief prospecting into the provisions of the Act for appreciation of the objects of the Act, we may profitably refer to the Central Act No.42 of 1994 called The Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994, which is enacted by the Parliament in pursuance of Clause 1 of Article 252 of the Constitution of India on resolutions having been passed by all the Houses of Legislatures of the States of Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra, to provide for regulation of removal, storage and transplantation of human organs for therapeutic purpose and for the prevention of commercial dealings on human organs and for the matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. This Act 42 of 1994 applies in the first instance, to the whole of the States of Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra and to all the Union Territories and shall be so applicable to such other State or States, which adopts or adopt the Act by resolution passed in that behalf under Clause 1 of Article 252 of the Constitution of India. The Legislature of the State of Andhra Pradesh, however, has enacted in the Forty Sixth Year of the Republic of India, Act 24 of 1995 for the same purpose as the Central Act 42 of 1994, stating the objects and reasons as follows: