Voluntary Health Ass. of Punjab - Petitioner @HASH Union of India and Others

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA 17 Nov 2015 Writ Petitions (Civil) No (s). 349 of 2006 With S.L.P. (Crl) No. 5800 of 2013 (With Office Report) W.P.(C) No. 575 of 2014 (With Office Report) W.P.(C) No. 341 of 2008.(With appln.(s) for permission to file additional documents and Office Report). (2015) 11 SC CK 0017

Bench: Division Bench

Result Published

Acts Referenced

Judgement Snapshot

Case Number

Writ Petitions (Civil) No (s). 349 of 2006 With S.L.P. (Crl) No. 5800 of 2013 (With Office Report) W.P.(C) No. 575 of 2014 (With Office Report) W.P.(C) No. 341 of 2008.(With appln.(s) for permission to file additional documents and Office Report).

Hon'ble Bench

Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh, JJ.

Advocates

Mr. Colin Gonsalves, Senior Advocate Mr. Divya Jyoti Jaipuriar, Advocate Ms. Jyoti Mendiratta, A.O.R, for the Petitioner; Ms. Ruchi Kohli, A.O.R, for the Petitioner in S.L.P. 5800 of 2013; Mr. Kapil Joshi, Advocate and Ms. Manju Sharma Jetley, A.O.R, for the Petitioner in W.P. 575 of 2014; Ms. Binu Tamta, Ms. Sunita Sharma, Advocate Mr. S.S. Rawat, Mr. Ajay Sharma, Ms. Sunita Sharma, Mr. Zaid Ali, Advocate Mr. Shadman Ali, Mr. R.R. Rajesh, Ms. Gunwant Dara, Advocates and Mr. D.S. Mahra, A.O.R, for the Respondent; Mr. C.D. Singh, A.A.G. Mr. A.P. Mayee, Ms. Sakshi Kakkar, Mr. Charudatta Mahindrakar, Mr. A. Selvin Raja, Advocates, for the Chhattisgarh; Mr. Ranjit Rao, A.A.G. Mr. Abhisth Kumar, Mr. Gaurav Srivastava and Mr. Ravi Prakash Mehrotra, Advocates, for the U.P.; Mr. Anil Kumar Jha, A.O.R. Mr. R.K. Ojha, and Ms. Alka Jha, Advocates, for the Jharkhand; Mr. Anil Shrivastav, and Mr. Rituraj Biswas, Advocates, for the Arunachal Pradesh; Mr. Gopal Singh, Mr. Rituraj Biswas, Ms. Varsha Poddar, Advocates Mr. Anip Sachthey, A.O.R. Mr. Arun K. Sinha, A.O.R. Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, A.O.R, for the Tripura; Mr. Sapam Biswajit Meitei, Mr. Z.H. Isaac Haiding, Mr. Ashok Kumar Singh, A.O.R. Mr. B. Khusbanshi, Advocates and Mr. Avijit Bhattacharjee, A.O.R, for the Manipur; Mrs. K. Enatoli Sema, Mr. Edward Belho, Amit Kumar Singh, Advocates and Mr. Balaji Srinivasan, A.O.R, for the Nagaland; Mr. B. Balaji, A.O.R. Mr. C.M. Sundaram, Advocate Mr. R. Shase, Advocate Mr. B.S. Banthia, A.O.R. Mr. D. Mahesh Babu, A.O.R. and Mr. Gaurav Kejriwal, A.O.R, for the Tamil Nadu; Mr. Gopal Singh, A.O.R. and Mr. Shreys Jain, Advocate, for the Bihar; Mr. Tanmaya Agarwal, Advocate Mr. Jatinder Kumar Bhatia, A.O.R. Mr. Jay Kishor Singh, A.O.R. Mr. Milind Kumar, A.O.R. Mr. P.N. Gupta, A.O.R. Mr. P.V. Dinesh, A.O.R, for the Uttarakhand; Mr. Pragyan Sharma, Mr. Shikhar Garg, Mr. T.L.V. Ramachari, Mr. K.V.L. Raghavan, Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Advocates Mr. P.V. Yogeswaran, A.O.R, for the Mizoram; Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, A.O.R. Mr. S.C. Ghosh, Advocate, for the Meghalaya; Mr. Dinesh Chander Yadav, A.A.G. Dr. Deepak Thukra, Mr. A.S. Rishi, Dr. Sukhdev Sharma, Advocates Mr. Sanjay Kumar Visen, AOR Mrs. B. Sunita Rao, AOR Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR Mr. Shriram P. Pingle, AOR Mr. T. Harish Kumar, AOR Mr. T.V. George, AOR, for the Haryana; Mr. V.G. Pragasam, A.O.R. Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR Mr. Sanjay Parikh, Advocate Ms. Ninni Susan Ms. Anitha Shenoy, A.O.R. Ms. C.K. Sucharita, A.O.R, for the Puducherry; Ms. Vartika Walia, Advocate M/s Corporate Law Group, for the Assam; Mr. K.V. Jagdishvaran, Advocate and Ms. G. Indira, A.O.R, for the Andaman and Nicobar; Ms. Hemantika Wahi, A.O.R. Ms. Jesal Wahi, Ms. Vinakshi Kadan, Advocates and Ms. Kamini Jaiswal, A.O.R, for the Gujarat; Mr. Suryanarayana Singh, A.A.G. Ms. Pragati Neekhra, A.O.R. Ms. Rachana Srivastava, A.O.R, for the H.P.; Mr. S.S. Shamshery, Mr. Amit Sharma, Mr. Ishu Prayash, Advocates Ms. Ruchi Kohli, A.O.R. Ms. Sushma Suri, A.O.R. Mr. Merusagar Samantaray, A.O.R, for the Rajasthan; Mr. Dhawal Mohan, Mr. Prateek Bhatia, Advocates Gaurav Sharma, AOR, for the MCI; Ms. Aruna Mathur, A.O.R. Mr. Avneesh Arputham, Mr. Yusuf Khan, Ms. Anuradha Arputham, Mr. Shobit Nanda, Advocates M/s. Arputham Aruna and Co, for the Sikkim; Mr. G.M. Kawoosa, Mr. Sunil Fernandes, AOR Ms. Astha Sharma, Ms. Mithu Jain, Advocates, for the J and K; Mr. Ajay Bansal, A.A.G. Mr. Kuldip Singh, AOR Mr. Gaurav Yadava, Advocate and Mr. Ram Naresh Yadav, A.O.R, for the Punjab; Mr. S. Udaya Kumar Sagar and Mr. Krishna Kumar Singh, Advocates, for the Telengana; Mr. Mahaling Pandarge, AAG Mr. Nishant Katneshwarkar, A.O.R, for the Maharashtra; for the Chandigarh Ms. Udita Singh and Mr. Chandra Prakash, Advocates; Mr. Joydeep Mazumdar, Mr. Parijat Sinha, Ms. Reshmi Rea Sinha and Ms. Sweety Chattopadhyay, Advocates, for the West Bengal; Mr. Mishra Saurabh, Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, Mr. Ankit Kumar Lal, Advocates, for the Madhya Pradesh; Mr. Ramesh babu, Mr. Anupam Lal Das, Mr. Sahil Monga, Mr. Guntur Prabhakar and Ms. Prerna Singh, Advocates, for the Kerala

Final Decision

Allowed

Acts Referred

Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Rules, 1996 - Rule 18A

Judgement Text

Translate:

@JUDGMENTTAG-ORDER

1. On 15.09.2015, while reproducing the earlier parts of the order pertaining to other States, the State of Orissa was directed to provide the Committee relevant documents especially the documents which are required for eradicating the deficiencies pointed out by the Committee. The documents were filed by the State in pursuance of our order and the Committee has filed a report pertaining to the State of Orissa.

2. Mr. Gonsalves, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioners have drawn our attention to paragraphs 3 and 4 of the report. They read as follows :

"3. AS and MD (NHM) welcomed the participants of the meeting. JS (RCH) read out the Order dated 15.09.2015 passed by the Hon''ble Supreme Court in Writ Petition (C) No. 349/2006 specifying the mandate given to the committee for the scheduled meeting. He clarified that the purpose of this meeting to scrutinise and validate the data regarding the figures on sex ratio at birth and the follow up action taken by the State on the SIMC reports.

4. The State of Odisha had cited the data on Sex Ratio at Birth from the Civil Registration of births of State. State Provided the relevant data and C.D. M.O, Odisha. There are 314 rural registration units and 100 urban registration units I 30 districts in Odisha State. All the data is based on the records of civil registration system. The Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) data fro the year 2013 submitted in the affidavit is 886 whereas as per the records submitted by the State data for the same period is 890. The representatives of the State clarified that in the affidavit, the figures were provisional."

3. Mr. Gonsalves, learned senior counsel has also filed a chart containing ''District-wise Sex Ratio at Birth of Odhsia State'' commencing from the year 2010 to 2014. The said chart is reproduced below :

"District Wise Sex Ratio At Birth of Odisha State

Sl.No.	Name of the District	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1	Anugul	894	900	879	890	904
2	Balasore	923	891	912	870	870
3	Bargarh	923	889	913	891	913
4	Bhadrak	923	891	876	883	875
5	Bolangir	945	930	933	950	939
6	Boudh	983	957	936	934	918
7	Cuttack	860	874	860	854	843
8	Deogarh	896	954	958	954	938
9	Dhenkanal	856	833	850	845	849
10	Gajapati	875	930	927	890	892
11	Ganjam	902	880	867	813	794
12	Jagatsinghpur	912	905	842	777	852
13	Jaipur	863	876	828	824	823
14	Jharsuguda	859	902	882	908	878
15	Kalahandi	888	935	968	989	942
16	Kandhamal	912	943	950	962	940
17	Kendrapara	881	836	828	734	705
18	Keonjhar	934	923	950	965	930
19	Khurda	892	876	884	885	842
20	Korapaut	935	943	960	945	942
21	Malkangiri	948	947	993	942	935
22	Mayurbhanj	955	934	936	931	933
23	Nawarangpur	962	932	936	979	965
24	Nayagarh	874	859	774	844	811
25	Nuapada	945	956	955	909	1055
26	Puri	933	888	874	873	854
27	Rayagada	955	954	939	931	945
28	Sambalpur	906	918	908	891	903
29	Subarnapur	940	934	946	939	965
30	Sundargarh	911	892	865	897	906
31	Odisha	911	902	896	886	889"

4. It is submitted by Mr. Gonsalves that the ratio has fallen in number of districts, for when the sex-ratio reduces below 900, there is a signal of a social disaster. He has pointed out too many districts where it has fallen below 900 and drawn our attention to two districts, namely, Kendrapara and Ganjam to highlight that the sex ratio has gone down to 705 and 794 in 2014. Be it stated, we have mentioned the two districts only to highlight that how the sex ratio has fallen in the year 2014 than what it was in 2010. It is a critical situation to be taken note of by the State Government as well as by the Committee in question.

5. At this juncture, we may note with profit that on the earlier occasion, Ms Anitha Shenoy, learned counsel had referred to Rule 18A of the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Rules 1996. It is pointed by Mr. Parekh that the said rule had been brought into existence in 2014. Sub-rule (6) of Rule 18A provides that all the appropriate authorities including the State, District and sub-district shall submit quarterly progress report to the Government India through the State Government and maintain Form ''H'' for keeping theinformation of all the registrations made readily available. The Committee was directed to apprise us about the quarterly reports. A status report as on 31.10.2015 has been brought on record as Annexure-II. On a scrutiny of the report, we find that the States like, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura and uttar Pradesh have not furnished the quarterly report. Apart from the above States, Union Territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Delhi and Lakshadweep have also not filed their quarterly report as on that date.

6. The States and Union Territories which have not filed their quarterly report as on that date, shall file the same before the concerned Committee on or before 30.11.2015.

7. We may further direct that unless it is specified by the Union of India or the Committee, the quarterly report by each of the State and Union Territory shall be furnished to the competent authority by 10th of each succeeding month.

8. Having heard learned counsel for the parties, we are of the considered opinion that the hearing should commence for the writ petition and the interlocutory applications which have been filed from time to time should be dealt with finally and accordingly for the said purpose, let the matter be listed on 12.01.2016.

9. Learned counsel for the parties shall file the written notes of submissions by 05.01.2016.

Madhya Pradesh High Court

Rajesh Shivhare Vs State Of Madhya Pradesh And Others

22 Jan 2026

Madhya Pradesh High Court

Dharmendra Kansana Vs State Of Madhya Pradesh

22 Jan 2026

From The Blog

Madras High Court to Hear School’s Plea Against State Objection to RSS Camp on Campus

Feb
07
2026

Court News

Madras High Court to Hear School’s Plea Against State Objection to RSS Camp on Campus

Delhi High Court Quashes Ban on Medical Students’ Inter-College Migration, Calls Rule Arbitrary

Feb
07
2026

Court News

Delhi High Court Quashes Ban on Medical Students’ Inter-College Migration, Calls Rule Arbitrary

Quick Actions

Download PDF Open PDF in New Tab

Case Metadata

Citation: (2016) 10 SCC 265 : (2017) 1 SCCCri 56
Ck Citation: (2015) 11 SC CK 0017
Coram: Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh, JJ.
Bench: Division Bench
Advocates: Mr. Colin Gonsalves, Senior Advocate Mr. Divya Jyoti Jaipuriar, Advocate Ms. Jyoti Mendiratta, A.O.R, for the Petitioner; Ms. Ruchi Kohli, A.O.R, for the Petitioner in S.L.P. 5800 of 2013; Mr. Kapil Joshi, Advocate and Ms. Manju Sharma Jetley, A.O.R, for the Petitioner in W.P. 575 of 2014; Ms. Binu Tamta, Ms. Sunita Sharma, Advocate Mr. S.S. Rawat, Mr. Ajay Sharma, Ms. Sunita Sharma, Mr. Zaid Ali, Advocate Mr. Shadman Ali, Mr. R.R. Rajesh, Ms. Gunwant Dara, Advocates and Mr. D.S. Mahra, A.O.R, for the Respondent; Mr. C.D. Singh, A.A.G. Mr. A.P. Mayee, Ms. Sakshi Kakkar, Mr. Charudatta Mahindrakar, Mr. A. Selvin Raja, Advocates, for the Chhattisgarh; Mr. Ranjit Rao, A.A.G. Mr. Abhisth Kumar, Mr. Gaurav Srivastava and Mr. Ravi Prakash Mehrotra, Advocates, for the U.P.; Mr. Anil Kumar Jha, A.O.R. Mr. R.K. Ojha, and Ms. Alka Jha, Advocates, for the Jharkhand; Mr. Anil Shrivastav, and Mr. Rituraj Biswas, Advocates, for the Arunachal Pradesh; Mr. Gopal Singh, Mr. Rituraj Biswas, Ms. Varsha Poddar, Advocates Mr. Anip Sachthey, A.O.R. Mr. Arun K. Sinha, A.O.R. Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, A.O.R, for the Tripura; Mr. Sapam Biswajit Meitei, Mr. Z.H. Isaac Haiding, Mr. Ashok Kumar Singh, A.O.R. Mr. B. Khusbanshi, Advocates and Mr. Avijit Bhattacharjee, A.O.R, for the Manipur; Mrs. K. Enatoli Sema, Mr. Edward Belho, Amit Kumar Singh, Advocates and Mr. Balaji Srinivasan, A.O.R, for the Nagaland; Mr. B. Balaji, A.O.R. Mr. C.M. Sundaram, Advocate Mr. R. Shase, Advocate Mr. B.S. Banthia, A.O.R. Mr. D. Mahesh Babu, A.O.R. and Mr. Gaurav Kejriwal, A.O.R, for the Tamil Nadu; Mr. Gopal Singh, A.O.R. and Mr. Shreys Jain, Advocate, for the Bihar; Mr. Tanmaya Agarwal, Advocate Mr. Jatinder Kumar Bhatia, A.O.R. Mr. Jay Kishor Singh, A.O.R. Mr. Milind Kumar, A.O.R. Mr. P.N. Gupta, A.O.R. Mr. P.V. Dinesh, A.O.R, for the Uttarakhand; Mr. Pragyan Sharma, Mr. Shikhar Garg, Mr. T.L.V. Ramachari, Mr. K.V.L. Raghavan, Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Advocates Mr. P.V. Yogeswaran, A.O.R, for the Mizoram; Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, A.O.R. Mr. S.C. Ghosh, Advocate, for the Meghalaya; Mr. Dinesh Chander Yadav, A.A.G. Dr. Deepak Thukra, Mr. A.S. Rishi, Dr. Sukhdev Sharma, Advocates Mr. Sanjay Kumar Visen, AOR Mrs. B. Sunita Rao, AOR Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR Mr. Shriram P. Pingle, AOR Mr. T. Harish Kumar, AOR Mr. T.V. George, AOR, for the Haryana; Mr. V.G. Pragasam, A.O.R. Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR Mr. Sanjay Parikh, Advocate Ms. Ninni Susan Ms. Anitha Shenoy, A.O.R. Ms. C.K. Sucharita, A.O.R, for the Puducherry; Ms. Vartika Walia, Advocate M/s Corporate Law Group, for the Assam; Mr. K.V. Jagdishvaran, Advocate and Ms. G. Indira, A.O.R, for the Andaman and Nicobar; Ms. Hemantika Wahi, A.O.R. Ms. Jesal Wahi, Ms. Vinakshi Kadan, Advocates and Ms. Kamini Jaiswal, A.O.R, for the Gujarat; Mr. Suryanarayana Singh, A.A.G. Ms. Pragati Neekhra, A.O.R. Ms. Rachana Srivastava, A.O.R, for the H.P.; Mr. S.S. Shamshery, Mr. Amit Sharma, Mr. Ishu Prayash, Advocates Ms. Ruchi Kohli, A.O.R. Ms. Sushma Suri, A.O.R. Mr. Merusagar Samantaray, A.O.R, for the Rajasthan; Mr. Dhawal Mohan, Mr. Prateek Bhatia, Advocates Gaurav Sharma, AOR, for the MCI; Ms. Aruna Mathur, A.O.R. Mr. Avneesh Arputham, Mr. Yusuf Khan, Ms. Anuradha Arputham, Mr. Shobit Nanda, Advocates M/s. Arputham Aruna and Co, for the Sikkim; Mr. G.M. Kawoosa, Mr. Sunil Fernandes, AOR Ms. Astha Sharma, Ms. Mithu Jain, Advocates, for the J and K; Mr. Ajay Bansal, A.A.G. Mr. Kuldip Singh, AOR Mr. Gaurav Yadava, Advocate and Mr. Ram Naresh Yadav, A.O.R, for the Punjab; Mr. S. Udaya Kumar Sagar and Mr. Krishna Kumar Singh, Advocates, for the Telengana; Mr. Mahaling Pandarge, AAG Mr. Nishant Katneshwarkar, A.O.R, for the Maharashtra; for the Chandigarh Ms. Udita Singh and Mr. Chandra Prakash, Advocates; Mr. Joydeep Mazumdar, Mr. Parijat Sinha, Ms. Reshmi Rea Sinha and Ms. Sweety Chattopadhyay, Advocates, for the West Bengal; Mr. Mishra Saurabh, Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, Mr. Ankit Kumar Lal, Advocates, for the Madhya Pradesh; Mr. Ramesh babu, Mr. Anupam Lal Das, Mr. Sahil Monga, Mr. Guntur Prabhakar and Ms. Prerna Singh, Advocates, for the Kerala
Result: Allowed

Referenced Acts & Sections

Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Rules, 1996 - Rule 18A

Stay Updated

Subscribe for weekly highlights on judgements, legal insights, and workflow tips.