Let organ donation law become path breaker for communal harmony: Kerala High Court

Let the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act of 1994 become a path breaker for communal harmony and secularism so that people of different faiths and criminal backgrounds can donate their organs to the needy irrespective of caste, creed, religion or criminal antecedents, the Kerala High Court has said. The observations by Justice P V Kunhikrishnan came while setting aside the decision of the Ernakulam District Level Authorization Committee for Transplantation of Human Organs, rejecting an application for organ donation on the ground that the donor had criminal antecedents. Deprecating the committee's decision, the high court said the criminal antecedents of a donor was not a criteria to be considered by the panel as per the provisions of the 1994 Act or the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules of 2014 framed under it. This should not be allowed to continue in the future," the court said and directed the Chief Secretary of Kerala to issue appropriate orders directing all the authorities concerned to convene meetings to consider the applications submitted as per Act 1994 and Rule 2014, as expeditiously as possible, at any rate, within one week from the date of receipt of such applications.