The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear, in detail, pleas challenging a Delhi High Court decision removing the mandatory six-month training required under law for performing ultrasonography.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde scheduled the case for hearing on April 8.
In March 2018, the apex court had passed an interim order staying the operation of the February 17, 2016, high court order. The apex court had said prima facie the high court verdict transgressed into an area of legislative policy.
“The Training Rules 2014 were made by the central government in exercise of the power conferred by Parliament. Prima facie, the Rules are neither ultra vires the parent legislation nor do they suffer from manifest arbitrariness,” the court had observed in its interim order.
The apex court had also observed that the high court had “squarely impinged” on its November 2016 judgment in the Voluntary Health Association of Punjab case, which called for the strict implementation of the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) (Six Months Training) Rules, 2014, to bring to an end the social evil of female foeticide.
Justice Bobde also agreed to hear on April 8 a connected application filed by National Inspection and Monitoring Committee (NIMC) member Sabu Mathew George. In his application, Dr. George said a team of the NIMC, which is monitoring the implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994, was prevented by local authorities in certain places, including Rewa in Madhya Pradesh, from conducting its inspection.
